Melanie Granger?
by Lexa-Jean-Skywalker
Summary: Everyone knows about Hermione Granger, but what about her fraternal twin sister Melanie? What happens when Harry and Ron find out some surprising secrets about their bookworm friend and her relationship with her sister? Find out all the answers in this story. Rated T for safety.
1. Chapter 1: Mornings

**Hey guys I just randomly came up with the idea for this story and decided to try and write it, hope you like it, remember to comment and vote! By the way this will only be a very short chapter.**

 **Disclaimer I don't own Harry Potter, I just love it!**

-/-/-

'Mel? Mel? Mel!' I opened my eyes blearily and stared at the person shaking me.

'Jane?' I asked confused.

'Oh great you're awake, I was beginning to think you were dead! How do you sleep so well?' The girl asked shocked, I shrugged and pulled myself into a sitting position. After yawning and rubbing the sleep from my eyes I was finally able to observe the delicate features of my friend; she had long silky chocolate hair, a small nose, medium size green eyes and ruby red lips.

'Why did you wake me so early, Jane?' I asked groggily.

'Because we have breakfast and it's not early you've only got fifteen minutes to get dressed and ready. Not to mention that everyone else is already gone.'

'Everyone?' I asked amazed.

'Everyone.' She replied.

'Even Paisley?' I asked, glancing around at all the empty beds, Jane nodded.

'Hermione was-'

'Don't mention her name.' I growled cutting her off.

'Sorry, I keep forgetting your two don't get on.'

'Please try not to, anyway let's just get this over with.' I mumbled sliding myself out of bed. I wiggled my toes as I could feel the soft red carpet between them and I dragged my feet over to the bathroom.

'Indeed the sooner we start, the sooner we finish.' I heard my friend comment brightly from the other room. I didn't even try to explain to her exactly how that saying was false in this case as it doesn't matter how soon you "start" we always finish at the same time everyday!

I cringed as I spotted my reflection in the mirror, I was a complete mess; my frizzy brown hair was sticking out all over the place, I had drool on my chin, my nose was running slightly and my skin was puffy and pale. My typical morning appearance. However, after washing my face, brushing my hair, cleaning my teeth and putting my robes on (along with my socks and shoes of course) I didn't look to bad.

Not to mention I had done it all in only ten minutes which still left us some time to go and eat. Satisfied I left the bathroom, walked back over to my bed, grabbed my wand from under my pillow and with our books Jane and I left the dorms and headed to breakfast.

I noticed that my friend had been right in saying that everyone was gone; for the common room was indeed deserted and silent as we walked out the portrait hole saying good morning to the Fat Lady before we started down the cold stone stairs, nodding and murmuring our greetings to the many friendly portraits we passed along the way.

By now you must be wondering who I am, well reader I am Melanie... Granger.


	2. Chapter 2: A Little More About Me

**Disclaimer I don't own Harry Potter**

-/-/-

Yeah, that's right, Melanie Granger, daughter of Michael and Jean Granger and fraternal twin sister of Hermione Granger. You know, the smart, Gryffindor know it all who hangs out with Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley. Don't worry though, everyone knows about her, of course no one pays any attention to me, I'm just the spare. That's why I'm so bitter about it, ever since I can remember it's always been "Hermione can do this" or "Hermione can do that" or "look Hermione's a witch and gets to attend a special magic school". Our parents didn't even realise that the owl had been carrying two letters, I had opened and read mine first, but of course when I went to show them they had already discovered hers and they were so excited for her. I had to wait almost half an hour before I could get them to listen and tell them that I had been accepted too!

Indeed the two Granger girls had been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry a school for witches and wizards from the age of eleven right up to seventeen where we would learn magic like transfiguration, potion making, Defence Against the Dark Arts and a number of other subjects. The school itself was actually a giant castle that was enchanted so that if any "muggles" (non magic folk) found it they would only see old castle ruins with a sign saying "Do Not Enter" as magic is a secret.

None of us really knew anything about magic, as we were practically "muggles" so going to Diagon Alley was rather a shock then of course we got our wands. My sisters was 10 3/4 inch vine, dragon heartstring, while mine was a 10 inch aspen, lion blood core. Mr Olivander was surprised when the wand chose me and explained that the lion blood core was very rare and it was even rarer that it chose someone as he had given it to people to try before, but it had always rejected them.

The ride to the school on the Hogwarts Express was great (though we did have some trouble getting on to platform 9 3/4 at Kings Cross, but another wizarding family showed us how) and I made a few friends as it would seem; Jane Misra and Paisley Chapman. We had talked all the way to the school and we were even sorted into the same house; Gryffindor. My sister was put in Gryffindor along with the all too famous Harry Potter and that weirdo Ronald Weasley.

I haven't actually met my sisters friends, I'm not cool enough for that, because I'm just a copy. Just a copy of my perfect sister. You'd never think that I was anything more than a shadow of her. Even the teachers treat me as if I was just a shallow two dimensional shape, while she's the smartest kid in the class! Actually I've never tried to talk to them simply because I'm kinda shy...

You've probably realised by now that we've been here for a few weeks and to be honest this is by far the best school I've ever been to, I have friends, I can't ask to people, no one teases my about being a brainwave (can't say the same about my twin though) and who wouldn't love going to a school for witches and wizards? It really is great and I don't miss home at all, especially since I was allowed my own cat, his name's Tiger. He's a short haired ginger cat that I found at the Magical Menagerie in Diagon Alley, I called him Tiger because he has stripes of light and dark in his finer fur not to mention he thinks he's pretty tough.

Anyway, back to the real world, Jane and I walked into the Great Hall and sat down with our friends, I was about to start eating when I heard someone say my name further up the table. My head shot up and my eyes darted to my sister. My suspicions were right, she was talking to her friends about me, despite the amount of noise in the Hall and the considerable distance between us I was able to eavesdrop on them.

'So that girl is your sister, I knew it!' Ron said triumphantly.

'Yes, but you wouldn't think so based on our personalities, we're very different.' Hermione replied.

'Oh really how?' Ron asked.

'Well, I like being neat and studying, Melanie on the other hand is very messy and doesn't like studying.'

What a load of rubbish! So I'm not a neat freak, that doesn't mean that I'm a pig! As for studying I do it when no ones around so I can concentrate better, unlike her who does it when everyone's watching so they can see how much of a goody two shoes she is!

'You could have fooled me, she seems as diligent as you is class.' Harry commented. I smiled, maybe he was a little nicer than I gave him credit for.

'If you say so.' She shrugged.

I then shook my head and looked to my friends who were staring at me as if I had grown another head.

'What?' I asked.

'You were listening in to Hermione again, weren't you?' Paisley asked. I nodded sheepishly.

'How do you do that?' Jane asked. 'There's like 200 students in here!'

'Actually there's 280 students approximately.'

'Exactly, so how can you hear your sister who is like six metres up the table amongst all that noise?'

'I don't know I just can, I've always been like that.' I shrugged.

'So can she do it too?' Paisley wondered.

'No, I've tried to find out if she can and the answer is definitely not.'

'Oh, ok.' She nodded.

'What do we have first?' Jade asked.

'Transfiguration.' I replied glancing at my timetable.

'Oh yay, we get Professor McGonagall!' She smiled.

'Well we'd better hurry up and eat so we can get their a bit early.' I suggested and we started getting into our breakfast.

We arrived at the transfiguration classroom five minutes early and I was happy to see we were the first ones their, until the rest of class showed up and of course it was Gryffindor and Slytherin in the one class. It seemed like every class we were in so were the Slytherins, I don't know why Dumbledore thought that was a good idea, but apparently he did.

We sat at desks in five rows of five, I sat in the middle with Jane on my right and Paisley on my left, next to them sat Lavender Brown and Pavarti Patil. They were also in our dorm and while I'm not particularly close to them we still talk occasionally.

'Today you will all try to transfigure a match into a needle.' The Professor explained and a small matchstick appeared on the desk in front of us. 'Begin.' I looked to Jane sitting next to me, who smiled and I waved my wand over the matchstick, at first nothing happened, but as we tried and tried I noticed the match start to turn silver and the end became slightly more pointy and sharp. By the end of the lesson no one had successfully completed the exercise and only two of us had come close, guess who they were. 'Well done Hermione and Melanie, twenty points to Gryffindor.' She smiled.

I gave a small smile as Hermione grinned, before glancing at me then at my silver matchstick and shrugging. My friends smiled broadly at me and patted me on the back as we exited the classroom.

'Nice job Mel, I didn't get anywhere near as close as you did.' Paisley congratulated me.

'Thanks.' I replied.

'Now we have Potions.' Jane remembered.

'Oh great, the dungeon bat.' Paisley rolled her eyes.

'Let's just do what we have to and we shouldn't have any problems.' The others nodded as we headed down into the dungeons.

I shivered as the chill of the air penetrated my Gryffindor robes, it was also at that time that Snape showed up and let us in, however after a great deal of pushing and shoving I was forced to the back and had to sit next to a blonde boy who I knew to be in Slytherin due to his green robes. Not to mention how keen the Sorting Hat had been to place him in Slytherin.

'Hey, you're the other Granger aren't you?' He asked bluntly.

'That's right, but I do have my own name, it's Melanie.'

'Right, I'm Malfoy, Draco Malfoy.'

'Uh huh. I've heard a few things about you.' I murmured.

'And I about you.' He raised an eyebrow. 'I've heard you don't like your sister, we have that in common, I've also heard you don't like Potter or Weasley, neither do I.'

'Who I like and don't like is hardly any of your business.'

'Fine then, mudblood.' He sneered.

My blood boiled, how dare he call me that! I pulled my wand out of my sleeve and thrust it up until it was pressing dangerously into his throat. I sensed everyone's eyes on us from the moment that filthy word left his potty mouth, but I didn't care.

'Watch yourself Malfoy, call me that again and I'll personally wash your mouth out with soap.' I growled threateningly before removing my wand from his neck and turning to face the unhappy Professor.

'100 points from Gryffindor for disrupting my class and threatening another student, Miss Granger go to the Headmasters office now!' He spat venomously.

I didn't try to argue with him, I simply packed up my things, got off my seat and headed out the classroom. The walk was long and boring as I headed to see the Headmaster, but I wasn't worried, he probably already knew what had happened. Hogwarts Headmaster, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, was very good at knowing what went in within the walls of the castle. Of course it's not the first time I've been sent to him for punishment due to my violent actions, actually I think the first time was just a few days into the school year when a girl named Pasny Parkinson (Slytherin) made fun of my muggle heritage so I punched her in the nose. I've been known for violence ever since.

By the time I reached the gargoyle that guarded the circular staircase I was more than happy to give it the password just so that I could speak and get my frustration out before I saw the Headmaster. After all I didn't wasn't to get it o even more trouble for being rude to him. As I opened the large doors and walked in I was surprised to see that he wasn't sitting in his place behind his large mahogany desk, for instead he was standing beside his phoenix who I knew to be named Fawkes.

'Hello Miss Granger.' He greeted.

'Good morning Headmaster.' I replied stiffly.

'I heard you threatened Mr Malfoy during your potions class, may I ask why?'

'He called me a mudblood.' I replied honestly.

'I see and you didn't take kindly to that.'

'No sir.'

'Well I don't blame you for reacting the way you did and I will make sure that Mr Malfoy has the appropriate action taken against him.'

'Thank you sir, but what about me?' I asked.

'We'll Miss Granger what you did, while it was in retaliation to Mr Malfoy, it was wrong and inappropriate. So as punishment for your actions you will be required to serve detention with Professor Snape.'

'Yes sir.' I nodded then made a quick exit.

The day flew past and soon I was sitting in the potions classroom writing an essay and listening to Snape drawl on about how I was disrespectful and highly disruptive in his class this morning, but as I scribbled on the parchment my mind wandered back to the fist thing he ever said to us in his class...

 _'There will be no mindless wand-waving or silly incantations in this class. As such I do not expect many of you to appreciate the subtle science and exact art of potion making, but to those select few who posses the predisposition.' I saw him glance rather obviously at my least favourite Slytherin prat Draco Malfoy before continuing. 'I can teach you how to bewitch the mind and insnare the senses. I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory and even put a stopper in death.'_

Stopping death? How was that even possible? Of course none of this had actually been taught to us yet, instead we had been learning about types of cauldrons which was what my current essay was on and while it was an interesting and necessary subject I was looking forward to actually creating potions. I had written a roll and a half of parchment and was close to completing my essay and I just hoped that the Professor saw it as being good enough to excuse my behaviour in class.

'I'm finished Professor.' I said handing him my essay.

I watched as his eyes skimmed over the words for a few moments and glance back up at me.

'You may go, Miss Granger, but don't disrupt my class again.'

'Yes sir.' I replied and left.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey I can't believe this story already has a comment when I only just posted it this afternoon! Wow! Thank you Sand Phoenix! I hope you like this chapter!**

-/-/-

I walked back to the Common Room and upon coming to the Fat Lady gave the password and walked through the portrait hole. The Common Room was full of kids from years 1-7 playing different "wizard" games. I spotted Jane and Paisley sitting with Hermione and Harry, I was about to walk over when I saw Tiger and Hermione's cat Crookshanks sitting and the base of the stairs that lead to the dorms. After giving them a quick smile I went to talk to the others.

'Hey guys.' I said sitting down with them.

'Hey.' Paisley smiled.

'Sup.' Jane nodded.

'Hi, you must be Melanie, I'm Harry.' Harry stretched out his hand and I shook it. 'It's nice to meet you.'

'H-Hi Harry.' I stuttered, feeling my face redden. 'I-I'll see you later guys.' I stated then retreated upstairs and flopped on my bed. 'Nice job, idiot.' I said into my pillow.

Man I felt stupid, I just met Harry Potter and I turned into a stuttering mess! Argh! I was about to get up and grab one of my books to read when I heard someone come in and I knew who it was as soon as their foot touched the carpet.

'What do want Hermione?' I asked coldly.

'I just... Nothing.' She replied and walked out.

Whatever, it's better that she's gone anyway, I've still got half an hour until dinner and I wanna read up on our classes for tomorrow, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Charms, Flying and Muggle Studies. Of course studying for Flying wasn't necessary, but Defence Against the Dark Arts was absolute favourite subject so that's what I studied the most. Which involved reading about how to cure werewolf bites as was our current topic in this al to fascinating subject. I also went a step further and looked at the effects of werewolf bites on both wizards and muggles.

Lycanthropy is a magical illness known to be spread by contact between saliva and blood; thus, when a transformed werewolf bites a human, the bitten will become a werewolf themselves. Most Muggles, however, will die from the extent of their injuries in the instance of a werewolf attack as noted by Professor Marlowe Forfang. If a werewolf is in human form and bites the victim, they will merely gain lupine tendencies such as a fondness for rare meat. Any bite or scratch obtained from a werewolf, whether in human or animal form, will leave permanent scars. However, the fresh wound can be sealed with a mixture of powdered silver and dittany.

Interesting, I think I might need to find out what powdered silver and dittany are, still knowing this might help with class tomorrow, perhaps I should tell my friends... Nah, they're having fun and I wouldn't want to interrupt.

My attention was then directed to Tiger as he jumped up on my bed and sat on my lap where my book had been resting just seconds before. I patted his head and smiled with the fluffy feeling of his fur on the skin of my hand.

'Hello Tiger, come to keep me company have you?' I asked as he purred happily. 'Thanks, I love you too.' A little while later it was time to go to dinner, but before I went to the Great Hall I gave Tiger his own dinner which he was quite happy to receive. 'See you later.' I waved and went back down to the Common Room where everyone else was starting to file out onto the stairs and down to the Entrance Hall where we then went into the Great Hall and sat down at our house tables.

I sat down with my friends along with Neville Longbottom and Dean Thomas, two boys that we had most of our classes with. You've probably guessed by now that Jane and Paisley are rather social and that's true, my friends are definitely more social and out going than I am, but I suppose that's a good thing as it means I can interact with others too.

'So Melanie, what did Malfoy say to you during Potions?' Dean asked.

'He called me a-'. I lowered my voice and leaned in towards them. 'Mudblood.' They gasped.

'He didn't.' Jane said shocked, I nodded.

'He did, so I just told him not to call me that ever again or I would wash his foul mouth out with soap.'

The others cracked up in fits of laughter, I joined them realising just funny it sounded, after all not many people stood up to the blonde Slytherin and I think it's about time someone did (even if it earned me a few extra detentions).

'It's a shame you got into trouble, I wish you'd told Snape what you said.' Paisley giggled.

'I don't know, I don't think it's wise to mess with Professor Snape, he's scary.' Neville murmured.

'Oh he's not that scary Neville, besides I hope you get to have another go at Malfoy tomorrow during Defence Against the Dark Arts; Professor Quirrell wouldn't know what to do!' Dean laughed.

It was true; the stuttering Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher wasn't much when it came to frights or discipline despite he's position. You'd think that the teacher of the DADA would be someone who was more like Snape, but instead Quirrell was a quiet man, with a turban wrapped around his head, who wouldn't say boo to anyone.

Anyway after dinner we returned to the Common Room and I swiftly had a bath and got into bed (after getting into my pyjamas first, obviously). We all said goodnight to each other and I soon fell asleep with my fluffy, ginger Tiger at my feet.

The next morning I woke early and performed my usual morning routine of washing my face, brushing my hair, cleaning my teeth and getting dressed, making sure to feed Tiger once I was finished doing all of the above, before making sure that I had all my books for the morning and heading toward the door that lead to the stone steps down into the Common Room. I paused when I heard a noise coming from downstairs and I slowly moved closer to the landing to hear what was being said.

'Hey Harry, what do you think about Mione?' It was Ronald and Harry, but why were they discussing my sister?

'What do you mean?'

'Well, she doesn't seem to be to keen on her sister does she?'

'No, she doesn't.'

'I wonder why...'

'Well it's hardly any of our business Ron, besides I don't think she wants to talk about it.' Harry replied.

'Yeah, but that doesn't mean I won't ask, besides her sister seems nice.'

'Yes, but very shy.'

I decided to take another step when Hermione's cat Crookshanks decided to brush herself up against my leg, purring merrily.

'Go away Crookshanks.' I hissed. If the boys realised she was here then they would know someone was listening to them (probably assume that I was Hermione) is and they would stop talking and I wanted to know what Hermione had told them about me.

'Still maybe we could talk to her and see if she'll tell us about why she and Hermione don't get on.' Harry suggested.

Yeah right like I was ever going to do that, what happened between me and my sister would stay between us and no one else was ever going to find out. I decided to crash their little party and come down to join them so I skipped down the stairs to join them in our awesome red Common Room. However as soon as I was down there with them I became embarrassed especially with what I'd just heard.

'Hey Melanie, how'd you sleep?' Harry asked.

'F-Fine thank you.' I murmured, feeling my face redden.

'Is Hermione still asleep?' Ron inquired.

'Yes.'

'Oh ok, want to come down to the Great Hall with us?' Harry asked.

'Um...' I hesitated; these were my sisters friends, not mine, mine were still asleep in the girls dorm. Then again they wee always telling me to try and socialise with others more, so I agreed and we walked out.

'So, Melanie... Heard Malfoy gave you a rough time yesterday.' Ronald tried to start a conversation.

'He tried, but I won, Dumbledore said he'd be punished soon too.'

'That's if Snape doesn't try to stand up for him.' Ronald added.

'I doubt he'll be able to do anything about it.' I replied. The three of us then fell into an awkward silence as the stairs moved into place and we walked down into the Entrance Hall with several other students.

'At least only two weeks until Hallowe'en.' Ronald smiled.

'What do they even do here for Hallowe'en?' I asked curious. Harry looked at me and shrugged.

'Fred and Gorge said they have a big feast with lots of chocolate and lollies and stuff.' Ronald replied.

I guessed that these people he just mentioned were his brothers, Fred and Gorge Weasley, they're identical twins. Of course I've never met them, but they're pretty well known in Gryffindor for being notorious trouble makers and creators/producers of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. A range of different products going from trick cards all the way to sweets that make you sick. Me personally, I find them rather hilarious, but I've never really voiced my opinion of them.

The subject then changed to our upcoming flying lesson with Madame Hooch after lunch and everyone's eagerness to participate in it, well almost everyone.

'I don't know about this, what if I fall off.' Neville murmured nervously.

'You won't fall off Neville, you just have to make sure to hang on to the broom.' Harry assured him.

'A-Are you sure?'

'Positive.' He nodded. Though I could sense that he wasn't so sure, to be honest neither was anyone else, but Neville seemed to pick up.

Our first class that day was Defence Against the Dark Arts and as usual it was difficult to concentrate or really learn anything from a jittery, stuttering professor such as Professor Quirrell. However when he asked a question I was ready.

'W-Who knows h-how to cure a w-werewolf bite?' He asked, my hand shot straight up. 'Y-Yes, Miss Granger?'

'Any fresh wound caused by a werewolf can be sealed using a mixture of powdered silver and dittany.' I replied.

'W-Well done; f-five points to Gryffindor.' I smiled, it looks like I've started earning back those points Professor Snape took from me. 'N-Now I know t-this isn't part of our t-topic this year, b-but can anyone t-tell me h-how people become werewolves?' This time my hand was joined in the air by Hermione's. The professor looked between us wondering which one to choose, but his eyes finally rested on Hermione and I put my hand down. 'Miss Granger.'

'A human becomes a werewolf when he is bitten by one and contracts a magic illness known as Lycanthropy.' She replied.

'G-Good, ten points to Gryffindor.'

I growled, in a way it was ironic that Hermione answered that question, after all she should know all about dark creatures and how they work.


	4. Chapter 4: Flying Lessons

**Disclaimer I don't own HP.**

-/-/-

Flying lessons. What more can I say? Probably a lot actually. Ok so everyone knows that witches fly around on broomsticks, but wizards do it too and it's not like we all know how to do it from the minute we're born, instead all first years have to attend flying lessons.

So now we're all lined up in two lines on the training ground, Gryffindor on one side and Slytherin on the other, facing each other. Next to me stand my best friends Paisley and Jane and opposite us were Pansy Parkinson and Millicent Bulstrode, the two Slytherins glared at us for several moments before starting to gossip.

It wasn't long, however, before Madam Hooch arrived. She walked between the two lines and stood at one end.

'Good afternoon class.' She greeted as walked between us.

'Good afternoon Madam Hooch.' We chimed in response.

'Well, what are you waiting for? Everyone step up to the left side of your broom. Come on quickly now!' She hurried us up as moved up beside our broomsticks. 'Now stick your right hand over the broom and say "up". She instructed. I did as I was told and putting my hand over the broom I commanded it.

'Up!' The broom instantly flew off the ground and straight into my waiting hand. I noticed that the same thing had happened to Harry at the exact same moment and we shared a surprised glance while everyone looked shocked. Malfoy accomplished the same feet a few moments later and he smirked at us, satisfaction plastered all over his face. I then turned my attention to Ronald as his broom shot up and whacked him in the face! I laughed and ignored the angry glare I got from the embarrassed Weasley as he rubbed his forehead. My laughing only increased as I heard Harry get told off for giggling at him.

'Shut up Harry.'

The rest of the class struggled on until everyone was holding their broomstick. It was at that pint that Madam Hooch gave the next instruction.

'Now I want you to mount it and grip it tight, you don't want to be falling of the end.' We did as we were told and swung our leg over the broom. 'When I blow my whistle I want each of you to kick off from the ground hard, keep your brooms steady, hover for a moment, then lean forward slightly and touch back down. On my whistle. Three, two.' Peep! Instantly Neville was up in the air, he leaned forward trying to get it to go down, but instead it zoomed off towards one of the castle walls. 'Mr Longbottom!' Madam Hooch called. 'Come back down here this instant!'

'I don't think he can, Madam Hooch.' I replied. Everyone gasped as the broom started shaking him back and forth and he clung on for dear life. 'That broom's been tampered with!' I pointed out as it flew straight into the wall, before spinning and hitting it on the back and flew straight for us!

We all dived to the side to get out of the way of the out of control broomstick before it went through the underpass behind us and came up over the top. Neville cried out as his robes got caught on the pointed statue and the broom came out from underneath him, leaving him dangling dangerously.

'Someone do something!' Hermione suggested as we crowded around to watch what was happening. I cringed as the sound of his robes ripping came to my eyes and he plummeted down until his robes got stuck on a metal torch holder, but Neville's arms came out of the sleeves and fell the remaining distance, yelling as he hit the ground.

'Out of the way!' Everyone moved aside to let the teacher through and she crouched beside him.

'Do you think he's alright?' Hermione asked quietly. I shook my head, that'd hurt! My point was proved when the boy whimpered as she touched his hand.

'Oh dear, looks like a broken wrist.' She murmured and she helped him up. 'Everyone is to keep their feet firmly on the ground, understood? If I see a single broom in the air, the one riding it will be out of Hogwarts before they can say quidditch.' She stated as she lead Neville away.

'I hope it's not too bad.' I said quietly once they had gone. 'But um... What's "quidditch"?'

'I'll explain later.' Jane replied (she grew up with magic and knows more about that sort of stuff than I do). Then my attention went to Malfoy as he picked up the discarded rememberall that Neville's grandmother had given him recently.

'Did you see his face? Maybe if the fat lump had given this a squeeze, he would have remembered to fall on his fat ass.' Malfoy and his Slytherin crones laughed.

'Prat.' I mumbled.

'Give it here Malfoy.' Harry Potter stepped forward.

'No. I think I'll leave it somewhere for Longbottom to find... How about on the roof.' He then mounted his broom and flew around us before cutting in through the middle of us and went up into the sky. 'What's the matter Potter? Bit beyond your reach?' He smirked. Harry went to get on his broom when Hermione tried to meddle in this.

'Harry no way you heard what Madam Hooch said, besides you don't even know how to fly.' Harry just ignored her, mounting his broom and flying up to Malfoy. 'What an idiot.'

'I say good on him.' I nodded. 'Someone needs to show Malfoy that it's not ok to mess with other people's stuff.'

'You would.' She rolled her eyes.

'What are you saying?' I asked taking an angry step towards her. I then stopped as I felt a strong hand on my shoulder, I didn't have to look to know who it was. Jane.

We then looked to see Harry facing off with the blonde Slytherin, who seemed mighty pleased with himself.

'Give it here Malfoy or I'll knock you off your broom!'

'Is that so?' Malfoy tossed the rememberall in his hand and Harry raved forward trying to snatch it, but Malfoy flipped upside down on his broom before sitting upright again, glancing over his shoulder grinning deviously. 'Have it your way then.' He said and he thew the rememberall high into the air. Harry chased after it and they zoomed through the air towards one of the windows in a tower.

'I wonder what room that's in.' Paisley mused.

'Professor McGonagall's.' I replied after using my brilliant sight to see in through the windows and spot her marking what looked to be our latest essays. Paisley glanced at me shocked, but I ignored her and stared as Harry flipped on his broom and caught the rememberall inches from the window! He then tossed it from one hand to the other and flew back down to the ground waving it above his head in triumph as we all ran to him.

"Congratulations", "good job's" and "well done's" were given to him accompanied by many pats on the back as he was swamped by admiring students. I caught his eye from the back of the crowd and he smiled at me, but that smile soon disappeared as Professor McGonagall's voice was heard.

'Harry Potter!' We all moved back slightly so he could be seen. 'Come with me please.' The. With one final glance back at us he followed her into the castle. I glared at Malfoy who had landed and was looking happy at what McGonagall had just done. I walked up to him and grabbed him by his robes.

'If he gets detention, so do you.' I growled before letting him go and pushing him back so he stumbled slightly.


	5. Chapter 5: Fluffy

**Ok so the title kinda gives away what's going to happen in this one, but I hope you find my spin on this interesting. By the way guys does anyone know how to remove a review? I have another review on this story that I would like to remove simply because there is a particular word that don't approve of. If someone could tell me how to get rid of it I would be very appreciative thank you!**

-/-/-

It was late, after dinner, I was headed back to Gryffindor Tower when it happened; the stairs changed. I know, I know, a common occurrence here, but not when I'm still standing on them! I gripped the hand rail tightly as the staircase moved, I made a definitive point not to look down as it connected with a new door. Despite my better judgement I decided to go and see where it lead rather than trying to find another way to the Tower. I wish I had listened to my conscience.

I soon developed a bad feeling as I walked through the silent eery, spiderweb-filled passage and I jumped as a torch lit up next to me (this whole magic thing was still scaring my from time to time) what made it even worse was when the caretakers cat walked in behind me. Now I may not have known where I was, but I got the feeling I shouldn't be here and it was a known fact that wherever Mrs Norris was, Filch wasn't too far behind. So I did the first thing that came to mind: Run!

I ran until I came to a door at the end of the corridor, without thinking I opened the door and slipped inside. It was dark and quiet, I was about to breathe a sigh or relief when I heard a voice next to me.

'Melanie?'

'Hermione?' I asked looking at my sister, shocked. 'What are you doing here?' Before she could answer, however, we realised there was a giant three headed black dog which had woken up. It sleepily opened its eyes, yawned and stretched up to its full height, it almost touched the ceiling (this is in a castle mind you, not an average house that's like twice the size) and was staring down at us! 'Argh!' We screamed and I realised that Harry and Ronald were there with us! It growled ferociously at us as we all scrambled out the door and forced it shut against the huge jaws and teeth that were snapping at us from the other side of the door and locked it.

'What do they think they're doing? Keeping a thing like that locked in a school.' Ronald asked shocked.

'You don't use your eyes do you? Didn't you see what it was standing on?' Hermione asked frustrated.

'I wasn't looking at it's feet! I was a bit preoccupied with it's heads!' Ron replied. 'Or maybe you didn't notice; there were three!'

'It was standing on a trap door, which means it's guarding something.' Hermione reasoned.

'Guarding something?' Harry asked.

'That's right.' Hermione nodded.

'Let's get out of here.' Ron suggested and we hurriedly returned to Gryffindor Tower and went straight through the abandoned Common Room up the stairs and stood between the boys and girls dormitories before we spoke again.

'What wee you doing there Melanie?' Hermione asked.

'I could ask you the same question!'

'We got lost.' Ronald cut in.

'I highly doubt that.' I replied.

'We were headed back to the tower when the stairs moved and we ended up there, what about you?' Hermione explained.

'You're not going to believe this, but that's exactly what happened to me. Mrs Norris came in behind me and I didn't want to get caught so I ran until I found the door and went in.' I replied.

'Well I'm going to bed before any of you come up with another clever idea to get us killed or worse expelled.' She said glaring at us and swiftly disappearing into our dorm.

'She needs to sort out her priorities.' Ron said, Harry just stared.

'Actually I think she's kinda right, getting expelled would cause eternal shame on us, but I don't plan on dying anytime soon. Goodnight.' I replied and went into the dorm.


	6. Chapter 6: We have a Problem

The next morning a scream pierced the silence of the castle.

I woke with a start upon hearing it, what was wrong? Had someone else discovered that three headed beast? I assumed everyone had gone to bed easy last night after dinner and some fun in the Common Room, well everyone except Harry, Ronald, Hermione and myself that is as we were battling with a giant dog! This morning, however, something dreadful must've happened and I swiftly got dressed before racing downstairs into the Common Room where Harry was about to go out the portrait hole.

'Harry what happened?' I asked.

'I don't know, but I'm gonna find out, come on.' He said and we went out onto the freezing cold steps and down to the Entrance Hall. We were lucky that the stairs didn't decide to move as we were running and if we fell it was a long way down.

'I hope that no one's been hurt.' I murmured, but I was wrong, I gasped as we neared the bottom, I spotted a girl lying unconscious on the floor and a brunette girl standing next to her, eyes wide in shock with her hand over her mouth. Harry and I ran over to them to try and find out what had happened.

'What happened to her?' Harry asked.

'I-I.' The girl stuttered shaking her head, unable to form any coherent words with her quivering mouth. I noticed that she looked slightly older than us, she was probably in third or fourth year and her robes showed that she was in Ravenclaw as was the girl on the floor.

'Someone should get the teachers.' I suggested, I was about to run and get them when Dumbledore walked in from the Great Hall.

'No need Miss Granger, we're already here.' He said walking over, Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape behind him. The teachers then tried to talk to the girl and I concerned myself with the unconscious one on the floor.

Her skin was a deathly pale as if all the blood had drained out of it and ice cold when I touched it, her eyes were closed and her midnight black hair was spread out on the floor, if I was honest she almost looked like a sleeping China doll. The question was what in the world could have caused this? Then as I moved around her I discovered the biggest clue; two small puncture marks in the side of her neck.

I felt myself turn almost as pale as she was and I nervously stepped backwards away from the body. I knew what had done this, but I didn't want to believe it.

'What's wrong Melanie?' Harry asked watching me.

'Headmaster.' I said turning my gaze to Dumbledore. 'We have a problem.'

The girl was promptly taken to the Hospital Wing after I pointed out what I had discovered and the other girl was taken to the Headmaster's office for questioning, unfortunately so we're Harry and I.

'Please sit down Miss Quill.' Dumbledore instructed gently and the distraught girl sat down in the chair, her face was wet as her make up was running and her eyes were filled with tears. 'Now Miss Quill, what happened?'

'Last night my friend Stacie Ridge left the tower, she said that she'd be right back, I told her not to go but she did anyway. I fell asleep not to long after that and when I woke up this morning she wasn't back yet, so I went out to look for her. Then I found her like that.' She burst into tears.

'Why did she leave Ravenclaw Tower?' I asked.

'S-She said that she needed to talk to someone, but she wouldn't tell me who.' She sniffed. Snape, who was still with us, looked to Harry and I who had been standing a couple of feet behind her.

'How do you two fit into this?' He asked quirking an eyebrow.

'I woke up when I heard the scream.' I replied.

'Me too.' Harry nodded.

'So your first thought was to find out what had happened.' Dumbledore understood.

'Yes.' Harry replied.

'I see.' He nodded. 'You may go.' We turned and headed out through the door.

'So what do you think?' Harry asked me as we walked back through the halls.

'About what?'

'Do you think it was a vampire?'

I froze, I hated that word, ever since I was little and Hermione used to mention it, but I managed to regain my composure and answered his question.

'I don't know.' I replied honestly and we kept walking. What I did know is that this could be the start of some very bad things to come.

The next two weeks flew by and Hallowe'en had arrived, everyone was excited, but news of the incident had spread an by now everyone was talking about. In fact many students had made jokes about the creatures coming alive early in preparation for the festivities of Hallowe'en, while others were planning on dressing up as such creatures for the years 1-4 Hallowe'en party that was to happen after the feast tonight in the Great Hall, while the 5-7 years party was held in the dungeons.

Most people were expected to attend with the exceptions being Miss Amberley Quill, Hermione and myself. The reasoning behind this was obvious: Miss Quill didn't want anything to do with that stuff since her friend was in the Hosptial Wing unconscious and Hermione and I were expected to stay in the Gryffindor Common Room and study as were "bookworms" who were more interested in our grades than partying.

I didn't mind what any of the others thought, we still had a normal school day to get through before all that stuff happens tonight and that was what I intended on focusing on. The day was going fine until we got to charms, just after lunch and we were going to be casting the levitation charm "wingardium leviosa".

-/-/-

 **Ok guys you know what comes next, or do you? Dun, dun, dun, da! Keep reading to find out more!**


	7. Chapter 7: Halloween

**Disclaimer I don't own Harry Potter.**

We took our seats and Professor Flitwick (the head of Ravenclaw) stood on a large pile of books so that he had a good view of everyone, as he is rather short (ok more like really short), then the lesson began.

'Hello everyone.' He smiled cheerfully.

'Good afternoon Professor Flitwick.' We all chimed.

'I hope you've all been practicing the nice wrist movement I taught you last lesson because today we are going to have a go at casting the levitating charm or the charm to make things fly. Now have you all got your feathers?'

'Yes Professor.' We all nodded looking at the large white feather on the desk in front of us.

'Good, so the incantation for this particular charm is wingardium leviosa. So let's practice that movement before we say it, everyone take your wand and remember, it's swish and flick your wrist.' Everyone in the class did it in time with him, as the action was very easy to do. 'Now, try to make your feathers fly.' He said. 'The first person to do this task earns five points for their house.'

'Wingardium leviosa.' I performed the wand action and spoke the incantation as clearly as possible, I was surprised as I watched my feather gently float up above our heads and laughed as Hermione disciplined Ronald.

'Stop, stop. You're going to take someone's eye out and besides you're saying it wrong it's leviOsa not leviosA.'

'Fine if you're so smart let's see you do it. Go on.' He demanded. Hermione took a deep breath to calm herself then waved her wand over the feather and said:

'Wingardium leviosa.' Her feather then hovered up into the air to join mine.

'Well done! Look the two Miss Grangers have done it!' Professor Flitwick smiled. 'Still Melanie accomplished it first and so she has earned five points for her house, mind you you're both in the same house, so very well done indeed.'

There was then an explosion from one of the other seats and I was unsurprised to see that the cause of it was none other than Seamus Finnigan, who was now staring at his charred feather and face was almost completely black as was half of Harry's who had been sitting next to him.

'I think we need another feather over here Professor.' Harry suggested.

I laughed, but when I looked back over to where Ronald and Hermione were sitting I noticed that the red head was sulking and grumbling to himself. Here goes. I rolled my eyes.

Things continued until class finished and Ronald decided to be an idiot as we were walking across the courtyard.

'It's leviOsa, not leviosA! She's a nightmare, honestly! No wonder she hasn't got any friends.'

My sister then pushed past him, tears in her eyes and ran into the castle. Now I may not like Hermione, but she is my sister and no one messes with my family and gets away with it!

'Weasley!' I yelled from the back of the group, he turned and looked at me. 'Do you realise what that's like?'

'What?' He asked confused.

'My sister is a bright witch and a great person, she was only trying to help you! Now your gone and made fun of her just because you were too stupid to succeed and she did! That is low even for you!' I yelled. 'I know how it feels to be teased for being above average and it's horrible so now you should feel the same!' Then with one hard shove I sent him down so that he collided with the ground. Then I went to look after my sister.

However despite my extensive search I was unable to find her, I actually felt bad for her, but as I couldn't find her I went to my next class. Of course my concentration wasn't quite as good as it should have been as scenarios about what my sister was doing ran through my head, trying to take my imagination for a ride along the way.

After class was over, I continued in my search for Hermione, but the "sixth sense" that twins are said to have wasn't giving me any clues as to where she might be. I even decided to skip the feast, I don't know why I was so concerned about my sister, I mean it's not like we've never been bullied before, we get it all the time, but this just feels different. Then I heard something as I decided to check the girls bathroom; someone was crying.

'Hermione?' I asked tentatively.

'G-Go away.' It was her.

'Is that anyway to talk to your sister?' I asked trying to cheer her up.

'Melanie?'

'Yes, it's me, come on out.'

'W-Why?'

'Because I want you to.'

'Why?'

'Because you're my sister.'

It was due to that truthful comment that she unlocked the door and slowly opened the door. Her eyes were red and bloodshot, her cheeks stained with tears, eyelashes stuck together in clumps and her lips trembled as she tried to speak, but nothing would come out. It was now that the twins bond came into play; I could feel her throat clench, the tightness of her chest as she tried to hold back sobs. I opened my arms, offering a warm embrace to my emotional sibling and she gladly accepted it.

'H-He...' She tried to get the word out.

'Shh.' I whispered and gently ran my hand over her bushy hair. That was one of the many things we didn't have in common because while her hair was wiry and bushy mine was frizzy (yes), but was also wavy and could be silky smooth when it wanted to (not to mention that it was a slightly lighter shade). 'Oh Mione.' At that she backed up slightly and looked into my sea blue eyes (yet another difference between us).

'Y-You never call me that.'

'Well, this is an exception.' I smiled. Then there was a growl and I felt the ground quiver slightly. I looked to the entrance to the bathroom and Hermione did the same, she was about to let out a scream when I covered her mouth with my hand. Standing before us was a huge, wart-covered troll and if that wasn't bad enough he had a club. 'Hide in the furthest cubicle you can.' I whispered.

'What are you gonna do?' She asked frightened.

'I'll think of something.' Replied getting my wand out of my sleeve. Hermione then ran to the furthest cubicle and the troll let out a roar, as he stepped forward swinging his club. I hit the deck as he knocked down half the cubicles, Hermione screamed and I scrambled to get away from the troll before standing up. That was when I realised; we hadn't been taught any offensive magic. Luckily for me two boys showed up to help.

'Melanie!' Harry shouted, I turned and smiled at them.

'Harry, Ronald!' I called back. 'Can you give me a hand?' The boys rushed in as the troll moved forwards and loomed over me, raising his club ready to pound it down on me.

'Hey pea brain!' Ronald called picking up pieces of wood from the now destroyed cubicles and began hurling them at the troll until one of them hit it in the head and it turned to look at him, but as it did so it proceeded to turn the remaining cubicles into rubble with its club. I cringed as my sister let out a shrill scream.

'Hermione move!' Harry yelled and she scrambled across the floor and hiding under the sinks. Unfortunately he spotted her and swung his club down, my voice joined Hermione's in screaming as the sink shattered and narrowly missed her.

'Help!' She called, terrified.

Harry pulled out his wand and ran over to the beast, grabbing hold of the club, he called out as he fell onto the trolls shoulders like a piggyback. He held tight to the trolls head as it tried to shake him off and as he was thrust forward and pulled back Harry thrust his wand up the trolls nose!

'Urgh!' We all cringed. That's when I had an idea, unfortunately so did the troll. He turned, growling at me and poised his club ready to stick me down with it.

'Ronald!' I called.

'Do something!' Harry added as he was swung upside down by the troll, pulling him off his shoulders.

'What?' Ronald asked.

'Anything!' Harry shouted back.

'The club!' I suggested as it was about to come down. Ronald then looked to Hermione, who was still hiding under the sink.

'Swish and flick!' She reminded him and he pointed the wand at the club, performing the spell.

'Wingardium leviosa!'

The troll then tried to hit me, but while his arm kept moving the club stayed floating in the air, I laughed as he realised there was nothing in his hand and with a little help from Ronald the club went up far above the trolls head. We all watched as it fell with a "thud" onto his thick head and he then fell to the floor with a thundering crash. I tentatively walked over to Hermione as she slowly came out of her hiding place and we approached the now unconscious troll.

'Is it...Dead?' Hermione asked, Harry shook his head.

'I don't think so, just knocked out.'

It was then that Professor McGonagall, Professor Quirrell and Professor Snape rushed into the bathroom and to say there were shocked at the scene that laid before was the understatement of the century. However as they looked around bewildered my gaze traveled down to Snape's now wounded and bleeding leg, I sniffed the air as the scent of blood filled my nostrils. Snape must have seen me looking as he swept his cloak forward, covering it.

'Explain yourselves, both of you!' McGonagall said looking at boys.

'Well we uh...' Harry trailed off.

'It was my fault Professor McGonagall.' We all turned to stare at Hermione.

'Miss Granger?' He Professor asked confused.

'I went looking for the troll; I've read about them and thought I could handle it, but I was wrong. If Melanie, Harry and Ron hadn't come and found me I'd probably be dead.' She explained solemnly.

I was shocked; she lied! For us, for me. I was even more horrified when I realised part of what she said was true; if we hadn't come looking for her she probably would be dead and no doubt so would I.

'Be that as it may, it was an extremely foolish thing to do, I would have expected more rational behaviour on your part and I am very disappointed in you Miss Granger.' My sister bowed her head in shame. 'Five points will be taken from Gryffindor for your serious lack of judgement.' The Professor then looked to the remaining three of us. 'As for you three, well I hope you realise just how fortunate you are; not many first year students could take on a fully grown mountain troll and live to tell the tail! Ten points will be awarded to each of you; for sheer dumb luck.' She then turned as swept out the door.

As Snape went to follow her I couldn't help noticing a certain animosity between his and Quirrell, a stern glance proved my point and Quirrell moved to let him past before suggesting we leave as well.

'You'd b-better go; m-might wake up.' We agreed and filed out the door, the others (along with Quirrell) jumped when the troll let out a growl as if to prove his point and we kept going back to the Tower.

Once up in the girls dorm Hermione and I had another chance to talk and for once I wanted to make use of that. I turned to look at her once she was inside and the door was firmly shut behind us (we both knew that no one would disturb us until one of left as its a highly known fact that we don't get on and no one wants to end up in the middle of that).

'You lied for us back there, why?' I asked as she sat on her bed (coincidentally it was right next to mine) and I sat too.

'I was the one who caused the problem tonight so I thought I should be the one to take the blame.' She replied simply.

'No you weren't; Ronald was the reason we were in the bathroom in the first place. None of this was your fault, after all you weren't the one who let the troll in, now were you?' I asked, she shook her head. 'So none of this was your fault and you didn't need to take the blame.'

'So what does this mean? Are we friends again?' She asked hopeful. I looked away.

There were reasons that I refused to be her friend or associate with her and tonight had indeed pushed the boundaries of whether or not horse reasons were worth losing my twin over, but after much thought I gave my answer.

'No.' I then turned my back to her and that was that.


	8. Chapter 8: Quidditch

**Disclaimer I don't own Harry Potter.**

I heard her sigh and she left, I closed my eyes and listened to her soft footsteps on the carpet before hearing the click as she gently closed the door behind her. I could feel her sadness and frustration searing off of her, but what she did that day was inexcusable and I wasn't going let her forget how she changed my life and not for the better. It was with that thought in my mind that I changed into my pyjamas, got into bed and fell into a deep sleep.

I honestly wish I hadn't.

I could smell an all too alluring smell wafting through the window, but I had promised myself to never leave the tower at night after what happened to that Ravenclaw girl. I didn't want to end up like that. No one does. So I simply rolled over and focussed on wrapping myself in the blackness of sleep.

The news was all over the castle the next morning: someone else had been found. This time it was a boy, with the same symptoms as the girl, pale, cold, the picture of a corpse, yet still with a pulse and the same two puncture marks in the neck. Of course while the majority of the girls were talking about the new victim, the boys were more concerned with the upcoming quidditch game.

'Come on Harry eat, you're going to need your strength for today.' Hermione tried to get Harry to eat at least some of his breakfast, but Harry wasn't have a bar of it and personally I couldn't blame him. I turned as Snape approached us. Yes us Harry and Ronald have decided that I'm their friend and want me to hang out with them while Jane and Paisley talk with other students.

'Good luck today Potter.' Snape said stopping behind him and the others looked up at him. 'Then again, now that you've proven yourself against a troll, a little game of Quidditch should be easy work for you...even if it is against Slytherin...' Then he left, I stared after him noticing his limp.

'That explains the blood.' Harry murmured.

'Blood?' I asked sitting up.

'Listen, last night, I'm guessing Snape let the troll in as a diversion so he could try and get past that three headed dog, but he got himself bitten, that's why he's limping.' Harry reasoned.

'Indeed I noticed that his leg was wounded and bleeding last night.' I replied remembering the terrifying night before.

'But why would anyone go near that dog?' Hermione asked.

'You said it yourself last night; the dog is obviously guarding something, the only question is what.'

'The day I went to Gringotts, Hagrid took something out of one of the vaults. He told me it was Hogwarts' business, very secret.'

'That's what the dog's guarding, that's what Snape wants.' I deduced.

We looked up to the ceiling as an owl screech sounded through the hall, it was Harry's owl, Hedwig and she was carrying a long parcel. Harry stood up to catch it as the owl dropped in into his hands.

'Bit early for mail isn't it?' Hermione asked.

'But I never get mail.' Harry noted confused as he set it on the table.

'Let's open it.' Ronald suggested and we started unwrapping it. Once the package was open and the mystery was revealed we were all left standing shocked.

'It's a broomstick.' Harry stated dumbfounded.

'That's not just any broomstick; that's a Nimbus 2000.' Ronald grinned admiring it as he pointed out the small Nimbus 2000 written on the tip of the handle in gold. I then glanced up and spotted Professor McGonagall gently stroking Harry's owl and it was clear what had happened.

'But who...' I nudged the boy directing his gaze to the teachers table. I noticed the Professor smile at us knowingly, Harry nodded and we turned back to the broom.

'You'll get to practice with you broom in today's game Harry, speaking of which, good luck.' I smiled.

11 o'clock, the match was about to start. We were all sitting in the stands waiting for the teams to come on to the field, everyone was excited, the atmosphere was amazing as everyone gave their view of who would win the game. Meanwhile Lee Jordan was sitting in the teachers box on the radio getting the crowd pumped up as much as possible.

'Hello, and welcome to Hogwarts' first Quidditch game of the season! Today's game Slytherin versus Gryffindor!' Everyone cheered. The feeling was only heightened when the players appeared, mounting their brooms and flew onto the field as the crowd cheered loudly while the players took their positions. 'The players take their positions as Madam Hooch steps out onto the field to begin the game.'

'Now, I want a nice clean game...from all of you.' She looked around at all the players though I noticed her gaze linger on the Slytherins for a split second longer before she kicked the trunk open, allowing the bludgers to fly up into the sky.

'The bludgers are up...followed by the Golden Snitch. Remember, the snitch is worth 150 points. The seeker who catches the Snitch ends the game.' Lee stated over the speaker. 'The Quaffle is released...and the game begins!'

Instantly the players shot after the balls, with the exception of Harry who flew up and away from the crowd to keep an eye out for the little golden snitch. An older Gryffindor girl with brown hair grabbed the quaffle and raced toward the Slytherin's hoops, in the hopes of scoring a goal. I watched in anticipation as her red quidditch robes flapped beside her while she zoomed past the other players and skilfully threw the ball which soared through the air and into the hoop, the Slytherin keeper groaning angrily as the "ding" sounded.

'Angelina Johnson scores! 10 points for Gryffindor!' Lee announced happily over the speaker as the Gryffindors cheered, I looked up and saw Harry clapping from on his broom as he watched the scene from above. My eyes widened as a speeding bludger flew past him, ruffling his hair as he stared at it shocked. I laughed as I heard Hagrid calling:

'Well done!'

However it didn't take Slytherin long to get their hands on the quaffle and I watched as a boy who I knew to be named Miles Bletchley fly with the ball down the field before throwing it too the Marcus Flint who flew closer to Gryffindors hoops and try for a shot.

'Slytherin takes possession of the Quaffle. Bletchley passes to Captain Marcus Flint.' Lee commented.

I watched as the other players flew after him trying to snatch the quaffle, but Flint dodged them all and headed straight to the hops. I smiled as our keeper Oliver Wood dashed in front of the hoop Flint had been aiming at and knocked the quaffle back to a Gryffindor player with the back of his broom. Flint glared at him angrily, while Wood just smirked. Then Angelina Johnson and Katie Bell flew down the field, passing the quaffle between them, dodging and avoiding opponents and rogue bludgers. Katie throws it too Angelina one last time and Angelina threw it past the Slytherin seeker and through the hoop!

'Another 10 points to Gryffindor!' Lee announced and the Gryffindors cheered!

'Go Gryffindor!' I shouted along with Jane and Paisley.

However it was then that the Slytherins decided to get mean, Flint had the quaffle and he flew down the field flanked by another boy while the Gryffindors tried to get the ball off him. I gasped as he shoved one out of the way, he then kicked another sending her spinning the other way and he threw the ball trying to score, but Wood caught it and threw it back to Gryffindor. Out of no where Flint grabbed a beating stick from another and hit a bludger straight for Wood, hitting Wood in the gut so he fell from his broom and hit the ground.

Every Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff in the vicinity booed as loud and as hard as they could, there was no need for that! Yet the teachers did nothing about it! Where was Madam Hooch and why wasn't she sending him off? Slytherin, of course, agreed with their players actions and laughed heartily. I looked at Harry who was still sitting on his broom looking upset as his captain was taken off the field. Then another thought hit me.

'Who's gonna be Gryffindors keeper?' I asked. Paisley shrugged.

The game continued and without a keeper, Slytherin started getting goals easily and it wasn't long before they were winning. Flint and another player flew beside Angelina, boxing her in and sent her into the capes covering one of the towers. I watched appalled as she fell from her broom and slid down to to the ground and was deemed "out".

The crowd booed and I looked to the teachers box and noticed the majority of the teachers looking either outraged or downhearted, Snape and Dumbledore were the exceptions with Dumbledore showing practically no emotion and Snape looking rather pleased with his look only became more apparent as Slytherin scored once again.

My eyes were suddenly drawn to Harry as he saw the Snitch, I smiled as he starts to head off after it, but his broom lurched and started bucking, as if it was trying to throw him off! I watched as he gripped it with grim death and tried to hold on while it shook violently from side to side. He was calling out in alarm as we all watched shocked.

'What's going on with Harry's broomstick?' Hagrid asked staring at the scene through his binoculars as was Hermione. I noticed her gaze go from Harry to searching the crowd, she paused for a moment and I followed her line of sight to the teachers box where I noticed Snape muttering something while staring intently at Harry and his haphazard broom.

'It's Snape; he's jinxing the broom.' Hermione realised shocked.

'Jinxing the broom, what do we do?' Ronald asked.

'Leave it to me.' Hermione replied, handing him the binoculars and disappearing in the crowd. I shrugged, they apparently had it covered.

Yet as I watched Harry struggle to hold on I couldn't help gasp as he fell, only gripping his broom with one had and my eyes couldn't help flickering over to the teachers box where I saw Hermione hiding in the scaffolding underneath with her wand poised to cast a spell on Snape's cloak, but as I looked up I saw Quirrell doing exactly as Snape was; staring uninterruptedly at Harry muttering words I couldn't make out.

One of them had to be trying to perform the counter curse, the question was which one? Either way it didn't matter as Hermione set Snape on fire it broke both men's eye contact and Harry's broom returned to sitting still, allowing him to get himself back on it and zoom after the other seeker and the snitch!

'Yes.' I smiled as everyone cheered for the boy and he raced up alongside of the Slytherin. I couldn't help cheering too as Harry rammed into the side of the boy, who glared at him before pushing back.

'Go, go go!' Hagrid yelled happily.

The two pushed as shoved constantly as they fought to get the snitch, however that stopped as they had to dive straight down towards the ground. The Slytherin boy's expression morphed into one of fear and he glanced at Harry who kept his eyes focused on the snitch and the ground that was coming ever closer. I smirked as the Slytherin chickened out and pulled up while Harry continued to dive until he pulled his broom up and flew just above the ground.

He stood and reached out trying to grab the golden ball that was eluding him, I shook my head as he stepped forward on his speeding broom, he kept his arm stretched out and edged his feet further forward, but his broom flipped him off! He summersaulted forward and hit the ground, skidding in the sand before managing to stand up. Everyone gasped as he put his hands to his mouth and starting lurched, bending forward slightly.

'Oh dear.' I murmured.

'Looks like he's gonna be sick!' Hagrid said shocked.

Then Harry opened his mouth and spat out the snitch! He held it proudly in his hands as everyone cheered and clapped ecstatically (well except the Slytherins, but who cares).

'He's got the snitch! Harry Potter receives 150 points for catching the snitch!' Lee announced happily over the speaker, Madam Hooch then blew her whistle.

'Gryffindor wins!'

'Go Gryffindor!' I shouted.

'Yeah!' Paisley and Jane called.

'Yes!' Ronald beamed along with Hagrid.

'Woo hoo!' I saw Hermione shout from her new place in a gap over looking the field, she was smiling and clapping happily.

Looking to Slytherin I saw a very angry Draco Malfoy who was shouting his displeasure to anyone who would listen by shouting: "Noooooo!" I smirked, what a shame. He'll just have to get over it!

Satisfied I then looked to the teachers box and saw Professor McGonagall smiling and giggling at her houses victory. I glanced to Snape who, surprisingly, wasn't scowling at Slytherin's loss, instead he seemed to be a little happy that Harry had caught the snitch. Strange, I mused, but I shrugged it off and celebrated with my house.


	9. Chapter 9: A Ghostly Encounter

Jane, Paisley and I were now walking back to the castle and we were so pumped up it was scary.

'Can you believe it? We won!' Jane jumped gleefully.

'I know, it's great!' Paisley grinned.

'I honestly thought Harry was going to hit the ground, but he didn't! He's amazing on a broom! I wish I was that good.'

'Hey you're friends with him, right Mel? You could ask him to teach us.' Paisley suggested. I shook my head.

'Hold it right there. If I didn't know any better I'd say you guys were turning into, fangirls.' I shuddered. My friends gasped, shocked that I would ever suggest such a thing.

'We would never become fangirls.' Jane joked and we burst out laughing.

'I know, but to answer your question Pais: no. I'm not really Harry's friend and I don't think that he would teach anyway, he's to modest.' I explained spotting the aforementioned walking a ways in front of us with my sister, Ronald and Hagrid. 'However I do have something to tell him.' I then ran up to them and was lucky enough to catch the end of their conversation.

'Nonsense. Why would Snape put a curse on Harry's broom?' Hagrid asked.

'Who knows. Why was he trying to get past that 3 headed dog on Halloween?' Harry replied.

'Who told you about Fluffy?' Hagrid asked shocked.

'Fluffy?' Ronald said as if it was absurd.

'That thing has a name?' Hermione asked.

'Well, of course he's got a name. He's mine. I bought him off an Irish feller I met down at the pub last year. Then I lent him to Dumbledore to guard the-'

'Yes?' I asked joining in.

'Hey Mel.' Harry smiled.

'Hi.' I replied returning his smile before looking back at the half giant.

'I shouldn'ta said that. Don't ask any more questions. That's top secret, that is.'

'But Hagrid, whatever Fluffy's guarding, Snape's trying to steal it!' Harry tried to convince him to spill the beans.

'Codswallop. Professor Snape is a Hogwarts teacher.'

'Hogwarts teacher or not, I know a curse when I see one, I've read all about them, you have to keep eye contact and Snape wasn't blinking.' Hermione remebered.

'Exactly.' Harry nodded.

'Or maybe not so.' I cut in. 'While you were creating a diversion Hermione, I was watching the teachers and it might interest you guys to know that Snape wasn't the only one using a spell; Professor Quirrell was too.' The three of them stared at me, while Hagrid glanced at the students passing by. 'One of them had to be performing the counter curse.'

'The question is which one.' Hermione wondered.

'Now, you listen to me, all four of you. You're meddlin' in things that ought not to be meddled in. It's dangerous. What that dog is guarding is strictly between ProfessorDumbledore and Nicholas Flamel.'

'Nicholas Flamel?' Harry asked.

'I shouldn't have said that. I should not have said that. I should not have said that.' He shook his head and wandered away, frustrated with himself.

'Nicholas Flamel...Who's Nicholas Flamel?' Harry asked turning to us.

'I don't know.' Hermione replied.

'Well good luck finding that out.' I said and I caught up with my friends who had already passed us several minutes ago and were walking into the castle.

'What was that all about?' Jane inquired.

'Oh nothing.' I replied. 'Hey, what are you guys doing now?'

'Not much; we were just going to go back upstairs and play exploding snap, wanna join us?' Paisley asked.

'Sure.' I nodded and we headed to Gryffindor Tower. We were unsurprised when we walked through the portrait hole into Common Room and came across a rather large party in celebration of the quidditch game we had just won and after a lot of dancing, joking and laughing the three of us went up to the dorm to play our game of exploding snap.

'Two mountain trolls, snap!' I proclaimed quickly hitting the cards with my wand as we laughed. Then more cards were shuffled and placed down: browtruckle, giant squid, manticore, manticore- in a split second I saw the match and tapped it with my wand. 'Snap!' A crack sounded as my wand whipped through the air with lightning speed.

'How are you so good at this game?' Jane asked, her eyes popping.

'I don't know.' I shrugged.

'You would have made a good muggle teacher, slapping people with the ruler.' Paisley joked. The two of us laughed at the thought of me being a teacher, Jane looked at us confused. Then I remembered; Jane hadn't had much contact with muggles as both her parents were magic, whereas Paisley's mum was a muggle and she had gone to muggle school before Hogwarts like me.

'Don't worry about it Jane, it's just that at muggle schools they sometimes punish students by hitting them across the back of their hands with a ruler.' I explained, then she understood and laughed with us and the game continued.

'So what are muggles like?' Jane asked curious. I glanced at Paisley, unsure of how to describe them.

'They're a lot like us in some ways, like they enjoy good humour, they play games like we do, the only difference is they don't have magic.'

'How do they do things without magic?'

'They use electricity and petrol they power their devices, like TV, phones, cars, busses etc.'. Paisley answered. 'Hey that reminds me, no one here is blood prejudice, are they?' She asked slightly nervous. I shook my head.

'Are you kidding? I'm a muggle-born.'

'I don't either; I'm a half-blood.' Jane replied.

'Don't you mean a blood traitor.' We all looked to the door and saw Penelope Wilkins walk in sneering at us.

'But out.' I murmured, trying to keep myself in check.

'Why? It's a free country isn't it?'

'Maybe so, but that doesn't give you the right to be rude!' I snapped. Jane put a hand on my shoulder.

'Don't worry about it, let her say what she wants.' She said quietly.

'You should listen to your friend mudblood, besides I haven't been rude, just honest.' She smirked. I stood up and within a second I was beside her, my hand entangled in her hair, yanking her head back.

'You wanna say that again?' I asked growling.

'What are you gonna do, mudblood?' She asked taunting me.

'This.' I pushed her head up straight and shoved her towards the ground, a smirked formed on my lips as her feet slipped and she unsuccessfully tried to stop herself from hitting the ground face first. As she landed with a thud and grunt I put my foot on her back to hold her down. 'What do you think now?'

'I think Dumbledore's gonna love hearing about this.'

'In your dreams maybe, now apologise.'

'Why should I?'

'If you don't I'll make you eat dung you creature of dirt!' I hissed.

'Melanie!' I turned to the door and my gaze grew even harder as I saw my sister standing in there.

'What?'

'What are you doing?'

'Making a pure blood prejudice follower apologise for insulting me and my friend.' I replied and placed my foot on the side of the other girls face, making her whimper.

'Ok, ok. I'm sorry!'

'That's not the thing to do.' My twin shook her head.

'Leave me alone Hermione! I'm not perfect like you, ok! I get it! Now just let me deal with this!' I shouted, roughly pulling Wilkins up off the floor and I shoved her toward the door. I didn't bother saying anything else before I stormed out of the room, down the stairs and out the portrait hole. I didn't know where I was going, nor did I care.

Somehow my bare feet managed to steer me along the cold stone floor until I found myself in the girls bathroom on the second floor. Angry and frustrated I kicked the nearest stall, not feeling the pain that it should have caused, before turning and sliding my back down the wall until I was sitting and leaning up against it.

Why did I have to be like this? It's not me. I shook my head and thumped my clenched fists on the floor in a tantrum.

'Hello?'

I paused and looked around, I didn't think anyone came in here, but my eyes widened when I saw a pale figure come out of a cubicle especially when I noticed that the door was still closed and her feet weren't even touching the ground.

'Who are you?' I asked.

'I'm Moaning Myrtle.' She replied. 'I wouldn't expect you to know about me, who would ever care about ugly, miserable, mopping, Moaning Myrtle?' She asked sniffing sadly.

'I would.' She looked at me, both happiness and confusion appeared on her face as she stared at me. 'I don't think you're any of those things.'

'Really?'

'Yeah and I don't even know you. I think that everyone should be given a chance.'

'Thanks.'

'So are you a ghost?'

'Yeah, I've been dead for forty nine years.'

'Wow... That's quite a while.' I said shocked.

'Yes, I used to haunt Olive Hornby until the Ministry confined me to this bathroom and now I can't leave.'

'That's terrible.'

'So you see, it's nice to talk to someone, I don't get many visitors here.' She sighed, I flashed her a small smile. 'Now you know a little about me, what about you? What's your name?'

'My name's Melanie.'

'Ooh! I like that name.' She squealed. 'Do you have a last name?'

'Granger.' I replied flatly.

'I haven't heard of that name before.'

'It's a muggle last name.'

'So you're a muggle-born like me.' She smiled, flying happily around the room. I nodded casually, wondering what time it was. I glanced out the window and saw that it was dark, I needed to get to the Great Hall for dinner, so I stood up and said my goodbyes.

'It's been really nice meeting you Myrtle, but-'

'Really?' She asked stopping and starting at me.

'Really.'

'No one's ever said that before... Yay!' She shrieked and started flying around again.

'I promise we'll pick up this conversation when I come back.' She froze the darted up in front of me.

'Y-You're leaving?' She asked, ghostly tears forming in her eyes.

'I have to go to dinner or I'll get into trouble.'

'B-But I don't want you to leave.'

'I know, but I promise I'll come back.' I assured her.

'Everyone says that, but they never do!' She yelled angrily and she let out an ear-piercing scream before flying up into the air and plunging down into on e of the toilets. I cringed as the water exploded out of it on to the floor.

Shaking my head I left, once again making my feet endure the cold of the stone floor that would have made many run to their Common Room to put on some shoes, but I didn't feel it and instead went straight to dinner.

I sat alone at the end of the table and ate by myself, ignoring the feeling of other eyes landing on me for several moments before turning their attention to something else. When I was younger I used to feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and I would glare at the person responsible. Now I don't really care about it, if others wanna waist their time staring at me that's their problem. So I ate my dinner then returned to Gryffindor Tower and went straight to bed.


	10. Chapter 10: Harry Potter Talking With Me

I woke extra early the next day and looking out the window I saw the sky was a light in a beautiful show of colour as the sun peaked up over the horizon. Deciding to get a good jump on the day I got dressed, putting on a pair of black pants, a red t-shirt and sneaker then after grabbing my wand I headed downstairs and was about to head out the portrait hole when a voice stopped me in my tracks.

'Melanie?'

'What?' I asked not bothering to turn around.

'I have heard you wake up early, but this is ridiculous. It's five o'clock in the morning for pete sake! No one in their right mind is up this early!'

'Which is why you're awake.'

'Exactly.' A smirk played at the edge of his lips.

Confused I turned to see none other than the famous Harry Potter standing at the bottom of the stair case smirking at me.

'Potter?' I asked confused.

'Yeah.'

'I didn't know that you like getting up early.'

'It depends on the day.' He shrugged.

'Right. Whatever.' I rolled my eyes and turned back to the portrait hole.

'Wait!' He cried and I stopped reluctantly as the portrait swung open to let me out. 'D-Do you mind if I go with you?' He asked, the stutter revealing his shyness at accompanying me.

'You don't even know where I'm going.' I replied.

'Does it matter?'

'I suppose not.' I replied and headed out, feeling kind of surprised with myself that I had allowed the raven-haired boy to tag along. 'But you know I could be going to the

'So what do when you wake up this early?' He asked casually as we walked down the large stone steps, making sure to keep our voices low as many of the portraits were still sleeping and it is a known fact that they do not appreciate being woken early, especially when "noisy students" are involved.

'I do stuff.' I replied causing us to fall into what, for Potter, must have been an awkward silence.

Neither of us spoke again for several minutes and we more or less just stared at each other, while I glanced around occasionally Potter's piercing emerald eyes never left my pale face. Potter only spoke again as we reached the ground floor and I pushed the heavy metals doors open to walk out into the chilly morning air.

'Are we allowed outside of the castle this early?'

'Were we allowed to go in the corridor on the third floor? They advised us not to, but they never said we couldn't.' I replied over my shoulder and kept walking. He seemed to accept my answer because he followed after me and I led us towards the black lake.

'So what are we actually doing?' He asked as we walked across the grass that was still wet with early morning dew.

'Nothing.' I replied sitting down near the water.

'What do you mean?' He asked confused. I sighed, watching as my breath hung in the air like a small white cloud and looked to him as he sat beside me.

'I come here in the mornings and do nothing.'

At this the eleven year old boy quirked a brow.

'You don't seem like someone who takes time out to sit and think.'

'And you don't seem the type to listen to my sister and believe whatever she says, yet you do.'

'I do not.' He shook his head defiantly.

'You do so.'

'I don't!'

'I've heard what she tells you and Ronald about me and admit it; you are only here to see if she was right. This is nothing more than a social experiment.'

'That is so... Half true.' He sighed dropping his defence and admitting defeat. 'I was curious to see how much of what Hermione had said was true, but I also wanted to meet you and thank you helping me stand up to Malfoy during our first flying practise.'

'Pfft! I was happy to, Malfoy needs to learn his place.'

'On that we agree.' We would have fallen into silence again accept for Potter asked me a question, one I really hadn't expected him to. 'What do you think about all these attacks?'

I stared at him, thinking of an answer.

'I'm not sure what to think, what about you?'

'I don't know, do you think there could really be a vampire somewhere in Hogwarts?' I nodded.

'I'd bet my life on it.'

'What should we do? It's clear the teachers aren't doing anything.'

'What can we do? It would take a lot of skill to catch a vampire, of course it shouldn't be too hard for the Chosen One.' I smirked.

'Please don't say that.' He groaned.

'Alright, fine, no teasing.'

'Do you there's a way we could stop it? If news about a vampire in Hogwarts gets out then they'll close the school and I really don't want that to happen.'

'There might be a way we can stop it, but you need to know what you are signing up for.' I glanced down at my watch. 'The library has just opened so we still have time to go there and do some research, come on.' We both got to our feet and I dragged him there.

'In some ways you and Hermione really aren't that different.' He remarked as I made him grab two books on vampires of the shelf while I got a third.

'We are different enough to know that we should stay away from each other.' I replied as we sat down at a table near one of the many windows. 'Before we get into this aren't you already supposed to be finding out about the Philosopher's Stone?'

'Yeah, but that doesn't mean I'm just going to let these students get attacked and have no one do anything about it.'

'Potter, you're eleven! I know that you're incredible and everything, but the fact that you're trying to work out a mystery concerning the Philosopher's Stone and not an adult is already shocking, don't try to push yourself too hard. Catching a vampire won't be easy.'

'I know, but I never agreed to catch it, as long as we can find some kind of evidence as to who it is or something to make the teachers do something about it I'll be happy.'

'I guess you're right, but even that isn't going to be easy.'

'I'm up for the challenge, as long as you are.' He raised a brow questioningly.

'Then let's do this.' I nodded.

I can't believe this, I just spent the morning with Harry Potter and now we are going to take on a vampire! This is crazy!


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer I don't own Harry Potter.**

-/-/-

I spent the majority of the morning with Potter and it was only when a certain frizzy haired Gryffindor interrupted out research that we stopped.

'Hello Hermione.' Potter smiled as my sister approached.

'Hi Harry, what are you doing here? We missed you at breakfast and we've been trying to find you since then and it's almost lunch time now!' She stated.

'I was um... Just...'

'Talking to me about whether or not we will be given any homework on the potion we're meant to be brewing on Monday.' I replied butting in.

'Oh... Well it must have been a heated discussion for it to go for so long.' She said raising a brow.

'Well that isn't really your concern, is it? After all you weren't part of it so it shouldn't matter to you.'

'I suppose not.'

'I guess I'll leave the two of you to talk then.' With that I then walked out, feeling Harry's eyes on me until I disappeared from his view around the corner. I wonder if her tell Hermione what we were really talking about.

I later found out that he didn't as I heard my sister explaining to Ron what had happened and where Harry had been. I admit I was rather glad that Harry hadn't changed his story and told her the truth or she would have been her usual meddling self and tried to stop us.

At the same time I was also intrigued to hear Hermione explaining to the boys about the Philosopher Stone, a magical stone which can turn anything into pure gold and contains the elixir of life. It was created by... Nicholas Flammel if I'm not mistaken and if I remember rightly that was the name they were trying to find information on after Hagrid accidentally spilled a few beans.

Interesting. They seemed to be getting further along in their quest to find out what is going on with Snape... Or whoever is behind all of this... If only I was so lucky to find out more about all the attacks by the... Vampire. I needed to get some kind of lead and soon! Or else I fear the school will be closed! Still it was getting late and having skipped dinner I was famished, I was tempted to go and try to find a snack, but I knew I had more pressing matters to deal with.

'Potter!' I hissed knocking on the door to the boys dorm, only to have him come out a few seconds later.

'Melanie? What are you doing here at this late hour?' He asked rubbing his eyes sleepily.

'I think I might know a way to get a little more information on who our vampire really is!'

'Wait, really?!' He immediately came alive. I nodded.

'Yeah, but you are going to have to get dressed properly.'

'Ok, I'll be right back!' He closed the door then emerged again after several minutes. 'Let's go!' We walked down out of the Common Room and down the stairs from the tower. 'So what's the plan?'

'We need to get into the Hosptial Wing and swab those marks on their neck to get DNA samples from the victims then have them tested to see who bit them or if they are indeed bite marks.' I explained, he nodded, but his expression soon became s little nervous.

'What if we get caught? Shouldn't we tell the teachers our plan so they can help?'

'And have them mess it up? Not a chance!' I replied and we went straight to the Hosptial Wing.

Once we got there I went ahead to make sure that Madam Pomfrey wasn't there and upon discovering that she was nowhere in sight I signalled for Harry to follow in. We then grabbed some cotton swabs from one of the cupboards and we set to swabbing the marks on the necks of the victims. It still gave me chills having to look at those who could be described as the living dead, but I did what I had to without complaint. Or at least until I came to the last one.

It must have been attacked fairly recently as the blood on the neck was still fresh and I stared intently at it as the wicked smell hit my nostrils. I noticed Harry was staring at me and glanced back at him as my face turned into a frown and I began to heave!

'Are you alright, Melanie?' He asked and I shook my head.

'N-No...! C-Could you...?' I stepped back from the body as he nodded and did the job for me. Once I knew he would take over I quickly sprinted to the closest bathroom, which just so happened to be Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.

I ran in and went straight to the sink where I put my hands on it to steady myself and stared at my reflection in the mirror, sighing when I saw my slightly scared face staring back at me. That had been close. Too close.

'Hello!'

And it only looked to be getting closer.

'H-Hello.' I replied shakily when I heard the high-pitched voice of Myrtle.

'I wasn't sure you'd come back and I'm so glad you did! Though you have rather strange timing.' She said coming to float next to me as I turned to look at her.

'Well, yeah, it's kind of an long story...' I replied.

'I have plenty of time.' She smiled eagerly.

'Well I'm sorry to say that I'm not as fortunate, I need to get back to Gryffindor Tower before someone misses me.'

'Aww... Ok.' She nodded. 'At least now I know you'll come back again! Right?'

'Of course I will Myrtle and I promise to explain everything! See you then!' I said and quickly returned to the Tower, happy to find Harry waiting for me with each of the samples in their own container.

'Hey Mel are you alright?' He asked concerned as I walked in through the portrait hole. I nodded.

'Yeah I'm fine, Potter. Seeing the blood just turned my stomach, that's all.'

'Oh, are you feeling any better now?'

'Much. Still our mission is only half complete, tomorrow night we will need to try and analyse the samples to see if the attacker left any saliva and try to get some DNA from that which will tell us who he is!'

'Awesome! But... We don't know how to analyse blood.' He pointed out.

'That's true, but I'm sure Madam Pomfrey does.'


	12. Chapter 12: Surprising Potions Master

'What do you mean?' Potter asked confused. 'I thought we weren't going to any teachers.'

'We're not.'

'Ok, technically she's not a teacher, but still! What makes you think that she will help us?'

'Because I know a spell...! But we'll talk more about this tomorrow, we need to get some sleep before classes again tomorrow.'

'Ok... Wait! What about these?' He held out the samples.

'Hide them.'

'Why don't you take them?!'

'Because... I-' I stopped myself. 'Because the girls sometimes get nosy and we don't want anyone finding them.'

'Ok fine.' He nodded and held on to them as we walked up the stairs to the dormitories where we paused to say goodnight. 'Well I'll see you in the morning.' He smiled.

'Yeah... Night.' I replied then we turned and each went into our separate dorm.

Once inside I quickly got changed into my pyjamas and went to bed, happy to go to sleep after such an eventful night.

The next morning things were quiet and uneventful, everyone did their their usual stuff and stuck to their routine, getting dressed, collecting books, some have early morning showers until we all went down to breakfast.

After that I discovered that our first lesson today was potions. Great. Not.

So all the first year Gryffindors and Slytherins went down to the dungeons where Professor Snape was waiting for us and as we came silently into the classroom I couldn't help noticing that he held is usual bored expression. However, as always, I tried to pay attention as he drawled on about the wiggenweld potion, or at least that was what he talked about for the first half of the lesson, choosing then to talk about the 12 uses of dragons blood.

I already knew that Dumbledore was the one who had discovered the uses for dragons blood, but I had never found out what they actually were until now. I couldn't help smirking to myself as I took notes, thinking that this lesson was rather ironic given what had happened last night. Heheh... Still I did find the lesson pretty interesting and it made me wonder something.

Snape is without a doubt a very skilled potions master, his talent shows not only in how he teaches us but also the sample potions he brews, not to mention all of the time we all know he spends working instead of being friendly with the other teachers. Where am I going with this? Well... Since it is clear is a somewhat unorthodox teacher I wonder if he would be able to help Harry and I with our samples. The only question is, would he rat on us?

Oh well only one way to find out.

I stayed behind a little after class to talk to him, the look he gave me as I walked up to his desk instead of going out the door like the rest of the students were showed me that he really wasn't in the mood for a discussion, but I decided to talk to him anyway.

'What do you want, Miss Granger? I hope you are not going to be like your sister and start asking questions about things that are far beyond your year level just to try and impress me because trust me, it doesn't.'

'You would love it if that was what I was here for, wouldn't you? Because then you would have sound reason to take points from Gryffindor, but that's ok. You can even take them now if you want, I don't mind.' I shrugged causally. 'But actually I came here to ask about blood.'

'Blood?' He looked at me confused.

'Yes, blood. More specifically magical blood.'

'I see and what do you want to know about it?'

'I want to know if there's anyway to... Well...' I tried to think of a way to word the question.

'Spit it out girl, you're wasting my time!' He snapped.

'If there is any way to test it for unknown substance using a potion.'

'Yes as a matter of fact there is.' He nodded while looking at me calculatingly. 'Why?'

'Curious.' I shrugged.

'Come now surely you can do better than that. After all curiosity killed the bat. Or the cat as muggles say.'

'Ah yes, but satisfaction brought it back!'

'Hm.' He smirked at my comeback before turning sour again. 'Now give me a straight answer, why do you want to know this?'

'Because I have a few blood samples I would like to have help testing.'

'Ah... And you would like my help with this?'

'Yes sir.'

'What makes you think that I would help you?' He asked sneering.

'I don't know... I just thought it was worth a shot, but if you can't help me...'

'Ha! It is not a matter of whether I _can_ or _can't,_ Miss Granger, it is a matter of _should_ I?'

'Well I know if I try to persuade to then you would only say no, so it's up to you.'

'You know... You are very different from your sister.'

'I was aware of that, yes... So what's your decision?'

'I will help you.'

'Thank you sir.' I replied surprised.

'It's only because I don't have anything better to do this afternoon. Now get out of here before you're late to your next class.'

'Yes Professor.' I nodded.

I then turned and left the classroom, happy to see Harry had waited for me and I allowed myself to show him a brief smile.

'What did you talk to him about?' He asked curious.

'Lets just say we won't be needing Madam Pomfrey's help after all...'

'You got Snape to help us?! He is going to do the- Ouch!' He cried out as I punched him in the arm.

'Yes and keep quiet!' I hissed.

'Sorry.' He replied rubbing his arm.

'Come on, let's just go to our next class or we're gonna be late.'

He agreed and we hurried on.


	13. Chapter 13: Tests and Theories

Our next lesson was herbology and while Mrs Sprout was always entertaining with her peculiar quirks my mind was elsewhere. I couldn't help thinking about the fact that Snape had agreed to help us, why would he do it? Was he planning to trick us so that when we arrived with the blood the Headmaster would be waiting for us?

All the same I was going to have to trust him, what other choice do we have? It was with that thought I met Harry at the stairs to the dungeon and with a nod we both began to walk towards the Professor's classroom.

'Are you sure about this?' Potter asked, seemingly a little nervously.

'No.' I replied honestly and he gulped. When we reached the bottom I swiftly knocked on the door. It opened seconds later to reveal Snape. 'Evening Professor, we have the samples so let's get started.'

'Hurry up and get in then!' He snapped. We immediately slipped in the door and I glanced around, half expecting to see the Headmaster and McGonagall waiting for us. However the potions room was empty apart from the three of us and I sighed before going over to where the Professor had everything set up and ready for us to perform the tests.

Once Potter and I placed the samples on the desk we set to work, Snape gave us instructions and helped us when necessary. I was more than a little surprised by just how well the three of us worked together, Snape even seemed to be somewhat impressed by us. When we finished and discovered the results we discovered that the speculation was correct, the thing doing this was indeed a vampire.

'So now what do we do?' Potter asked.

'Well we can't really do much until we cross reference these results with the saliva or DNA of other students and teachers. Once we do that we will hopefully find a match and then we have our vampire.' I replied.

'And just how do you plan to collect DNA from every person in this school, Miss Granger?' The Professor inquired, skeptical.

'To be honest, I don't know.' I felt my brow furrow as I tried to come up with an idea.

'What if we don't have to test everyone, there are things specific to vampires, aren't there? What if we just look at everyone and try to get a list of suspects then get their DNA.' Potter suggested thoughtfully. Snape tilted his head slightly, as a nod.

'That might work, Potter... Provided you know the signs that someone is a vampire... Do you?'

'Um... I've heard that they have pale skin, fangs and can't be around garlic.' He replied shyly, reciting many of the traits muggles believe vampires to have. I didn't know whether to laugh or hit him for resorting to stereotypes. Snape just sighed and shook his head and for a moment I thought he would look up and slap Potter up the side of the head. He did no such thing however.

'Honestly Potter, don't believe everything muggles say.' He stated then turned to look at me. 'What about you Miss Granger? What do you know about this subject?'

'Only that two of the things Potter said were right, some vampires do actually have pale skin and many have fangs. I also know that many vampires might appear normal during the day or indeed most of the time, so spotting them can be very difficult and it often comes down to the smallest details of their appearance or what they do that gives them away.' The potions professor nodded.

'It looks as if you have done your research, Miss Granger.'

'Well my sister and I aren't totally different, sir.' I replied.

'It would seem not.'

Potter and I left not long after that, it was getting late and while Snape was known as the "dungeon bat" and it wasn't uncommon for him to stay up late working on his potions or doing rounds, Potter and I had lessons tomorrow and we needed our sleep. So we bid our teacher goodbye and returned to the Tower where we said goodnight and quickly went upstairs to bed.

Unfortunately it didn't do me much good. I lied awake staring at my ceiling for several hours. Well actually I didn't get to sleep at all and was still awake when the sun rose to start the day. So I decided to get ready early and go to visit a friend, after all it was a while before the Great Hall opened for breakfast and everyone else in the dorm was still asleep, including Tiger.

Once I got dressed I left Gryffindor Tower, headed toward the girls bathroom on the first floor, AKA Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. I knew she deserved an explanation of why I had run in there the other night. So I crept through the castle until I walked into the bathroom and saw Myrtle floating around doing nothing in particular. I smiled as her face lit up upon seeing me.

'Melanie, you're back! Are you staying longer this time or are you just going to be here for a few minutes then leave again?'

'I'm staying for a while this time my friend. I think it's about time I told you why I was in here two nights ago.'

'Yay!' She swooped down and flew in a spiral around me before flying back slightly. 'Tell me everything.' I nodded and sat on the floor.

'This is going to take a while...'

So I did as she asked and explained everything that had happened, it was funny to see the expressions on her face as I mentioned working with Professor Snape.

'Ugh! Snivelling Snape!'

'He wasn't that bad, grumpy yes, but not horrible.' I replied, defending the potions master.

'He must have changed since I last saw him then.' She shrugged. 'Anyway, so you are actually going to look for the vampire now?' I nodded, trying not to cringe at the name of the beast we were going to search for. ' I wouldn't be surprised if it's Snape.'

'Why would it be Snape? He to helped us.' I pointed out.

'That's true, but he could just be doing it so he sees where you are in your search.' Myrtle replied. I considered it, she could be right, but I doubt it. It's just too obvious and from what I know, vampires don't make themselves appear obvious, they try to hide what they are, so I don't think it's him.

'Maybe.' I replied as not to upset her for disagreeing. 'Only time... And a little bit of magic will tell.'


	14. Chapter 14 Hermione's Help or Hinderance

Days have passed and I can't stop thinking about those tests, while they confirmed one fact they made others harder to find. How am I meant to narrow down our possible suspects from everyone in the school to a group small enough to test? It's practically impossible! Though I know that if I think about this tactically there should be a way to eliminate people and while I am a pretty good thinker I am sad to admit that no one thinks better than when my sister and I think together.

However there is a problem; Hermione is too busy trying to solve this mystery involving Harry and possibly Snape. She, Potter and Ron are trying to figure out what is going on and while that mystery is intriguing and has put the three of them in danger before, well four if you include me, we are the only ones who have been at risk. With this... Vampire problem, there have been many victims. Which is why I believe it takes precedence over the other problem. So I decided to push my pride aside and go ask my sister for help.

I went to ask her when she was in the girls dorm doing a little extra "study" or as I knew it to be, research on the little mystery she and the boys were trying to solve. I walked over to sit on my bed, I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I was feeling apprehensive about asking her for assistance. After all I have been so mean to her over the past few years, and while I had good reason, I wouldn't blame her for refusing to help.

'Hermione...?' I asked softly, without looking at her. Her eyes moved up as she tore them away from whatever she was reading. She glanced around until her chocolate eyes settled on me, I could see the surprise within them.

'Melanie? What is it?'

'I... I need your help.'

'My help? What for?' She asked confused. I shook my head and turned my back to her.

'Never mind. I shouldn't ask you to-'

'Melanie.' I heard her get up and soon there was a hand on my shoulder as she sat beside me on my bed and I looked to face her. 'Look sis, I'm sorry for what I did and I know that it hurt you, but you shouldn't be afraid to ask me for help. You're my sister, remember?' She smiled and I smiled back, that was the one of the things we shared, our smiles were practically identical.

'Thank you, Mione.'

'You're welcome, Mel.'

That's how it used to be when we were younger, Mione and Mel. The Granger girls. We used to be so close to each other, very few things came between us we never kept secrets... Until we did. It's almost a shame about what happened... But it did and there's no way to change the past.

'So... I guess now I should tell you the reason I'm asking for help.'

'Yes now would be the time for that, so what's up?'

'Well... You know all those incidences with the students becoming like death warmed up?'

'Yes, I know of them, news about them is always going around.'

'Indeed. Harry and I are trying to find out who is attacking them and... I need your help to eliminate suspects.'

'Of course I'll help.'

'Thanks, but there's one more thing you should know... Whoever attacked the other students... Is a vampire.' She gasped and stared at me wide eyed.

'A-A... Y-You... Melanie?!' She started to back away and slipped off the bed. I growled softly.

'Don't you dare do that! Not now! Not after everything you just said! You pointed out that we're sisters, don't turn your back on me again! Not where there are so many other people at stake.' I stood up and glared down at my sister. 'It was your fault I'm like this, remember? All of it was your fault.' I hissed then leapt over her and went to the door, pausing before going out, but I didn't turn to face her. 'I don't know why I thought you'd help me when you despise me so much, even though it was you who made me what I am now.'

With that I walked out and down the stairs into the Common Room, I didn't bother to try and hide my anger from the others who were there as I stormed out the portrait hole and went down the stone steps. I was headed down to the first floor bathroom, I needed to vent and that was the best place for it.

I ran into the bathroom and saw Myrtle, she looked happy to see me again, her face light up in a smile and she swooped down to float in front of me.

'Melanie, it's good to see you!'

'You too Myrtle.' I gave her a small smile, but she saw through it.

'You're upset... What's wrong?' She asked concerned. 'Is someone picking on you? If they are just bring them here and I'll give them a good scare!' She grinned and I laughed.

'Not a bad idea, but the one who's annoying me is Hermione, my-'

'Sister.' She nodded. 'I remember you telling me about her, she sounds like a real stuck up, meanie know-it-' Hermione walked in.

'What do you want?' I asked, staring at her stone-faced.

'I want... To apologise.' She murmured softly.

'Ha! That's just like you isn't it! To come crawling back after your conscience guilts you into feeling bad for being afraid of me, but guess what? I don't care anymore. I really don't. You can go and tell everyone if you wanted to and I still wouldn't care. In fact I dare you to go to the top of the Dark Tower and shout "my sister is a vampire" as loud as you can! Go on, do it! Just get out of my sight.'

-/-/-

 **Well there you have it folks! It's official Melanie Granger is indeed a vampire! Congratulations to those who already knew or suspected that! Sorry that this is a short chapter, but I hoped you liked it!**

 **~ Lexa**


	15. Chapter 15

**Alright, how are you all? Good I hope! Anyway, I'm here with a new chapter for you all and I hope you enjoy it!**

-/-/-

Hermione was taken aback at what I had told her to do and she stared at me, her bottom lip quivering. She honestly looked like she was about to cry, but who gives a stuff?

I certainly don't.

'Well goodbye Myrtle, I'd better be going, Dumbledore will want to talk to me after he hears about all this.' I remarked, implying that my sister would tell the headmaster what, up until now, had been our little secret.

'He won't hear about it.' Hermione murmured softly. 'Or at least not from me.' She glanced at Myrtle who was staring at us both in shock. Obviously she had not expected this, and who would? It's not every day that you hear perfect Hermione Granger's sister is a vampire.

All the same I shrugged and went to the door of the bathroom. 'Ok then, whatever you say.' I knew she'd tell, I just knew she would. Without another word I left, walking back to Gryffindor Tower and going straight to my dorm.

When I got there I flung myself down on the bed, my head landing on my pillow, only to smile when I felt someone jump up on to the bed beside me. I heard a soft purring noise and felt something soft brush against my hand. I didn't need to look to see who was there, I already knew. It was Tiger, and right now his company meant more to me than he would ever understand.

Tiger had been there for me ever since I got him when I went to Magical Menagerie in Diagon Alley. He sat on my lap during the train ride to Hogwarts, just a tiny kitten who liked to stare up at me and meow back when I talked to him. He had sat there and let me pat him and give him little treats and on that train ride alone I had taught him how to sit when I asked him to, not something most average cats will learn. I also learnt a few new things that trip, for example cats are surprisingly good at helping you make friends. One of the reasons I found Paisley and Jane was because they had seen Tiger in the compartment I was using and they couldn't resist coming in to see the cute little fur ball.

So this cat was my best friend and now he was proving that once again as he came and sat on my stomach, thankfully he wasn't very heavy. 'You still love me, don't you Tiger?' I smiled and rubbed the side of his face as he nuzzled my hand. He purred his response and I knew he did. 'Well I love you too.'

When I heard people coming up to the dorm I pulled my curtains around my bed so no one could see in and ignored whoever it was that had come in. Unfortunately they didn't get the hint however and pulled the curtain open slightly to look in. It was Hermione. I growled and hissed.

'Mel? We need to talk.'

'About what?' I asked. There was nothing to talk about. 'You said you loved me and I took you at your word. You said I was your soul mate and over the years you became part of the bedrock of my personality. Then there was the incident and now you hate me-'

'I don't hate you.'

'You fear me.'

'I...' She trailed off and sighed, knowing full well that I was right. She was afraid of me and we both knew it.

'Exactly. You're afraid of me because I'm the terror of the night, the creature who lurks about in the shadows and preys upon innocent little kids. Well guess what? I've never done that before, not when we were still in our home and not while we've been here. Of course I don't expect you to believe that you-' I was interrupted by the sound of crying and I immediately pushed Hermione away from my bed and pulled the curtains closed again.

I heard my sister huff, annoyed only for her to turn and start talking to whoever was crying. From the sound of the voice I knew it was Lavender Brown. Oh joy. If she was crying then it probably meant she had accidentally misplaced her copy of that stupid magazine she had been fussing about all last week.

I had been about to just tune everything out and either have a nap or do some deep thinking when I heard something rather surprising,

'Someone tried to attack me!"

Oh good for them! They probably didn't want to listen to- wait what?!

I opened my curtains and looked out to see some other girls that had come in with Lavender try to console her. Now normally I'd just be content to sit and listen to what they were all saying but this time I wanted to ask a few questions of my own.

'Lavender, where were you when you were attacked?' The others looked at me as if I was weird for asking her that instead of trying to get her to reveal the identity of her attacker. However if Lavender had known who had attacked her my guess is that she would have come in and announced: "So and so tried to attack me!" Instead, though, she said someone tried to attack her which makes it rather obvious she doesn't know who it was.

'I w-was attacked near the transfiguration classroom.'

'Mhm...' I got off my bed and walked over to her. 'How did this mystery person try to attack you?'

'Well they tried to jump me while I was walking then when I got away they tried to use their wand and stun me.'

I frowned, this could have been a student who was just trying to play a prank on her or get her back for something she did to them, but I had a bad feeling this involved our mystery vampire. 'Can you take me back to the exact spot where it happened? Oh and we might want to tell Professor McGonagall about what happened.'

'Sure I can take you there, I don't know what you expect to find though.' Lavender replied.

'To be honest, I don't know either, but I'm sure I'll find something.'

-/-/-

 **Hey guys how's life? I know mine has been rather hectic and it's been difficult for me to not only find the time to write but also the inspiration. I've been having some major writers block for just about all of my stories, but I figured I could add some more to this one and while it has taken me quite a long time I finally did it! So there is you update people! I hope you liked it! Let me know what you thought about it in a comment please!**

 **~ Lexa**


	16. Chapter 16: More Clues?

**Disclaimer I don't own Harry Potter, just my OC.**

-/-/-

So Lavender lead us back to the place where she was attacked and I surveyed the scene, it didn't look like anything had happened, but Miss Brown was insistent that this was where someone had tried to attack her. I decided that if we were going to find anything then we would have to split up, and search the area with a fine-tooth comb. Figuratively speaking of course. So, turning to the others, I took charge of the situation.

'If we're going to find any clues as to who did this, we need to search every inch of this corridor and keep our eyes open for anything that looks out of the ordinary. The best way to do this is to split up and have each of us look in one particular area. Hermione, you take the far end. Parvati you search around the door to the transfiguration class room. Lavender I want you to search the top of the stairs. Everyone got it? Good.' I said without allowing them any time to argue or ask questions before I disappeared into a nearby shadow.

'How does she do that?' I heard Parvati ask, causing me to smirk to myself. It wasn't magic or anything, it just took practice. But of course they didn't need to know that.

While the others looked around for anything that they believed could be linked to the "attack", I was still sceptical that it happened, I observed their movements. Trying to get into the mind of a vampire wasn't hard for me, as you could imagine, so I looked at the lay out of the scene from their perspective. As if I was going to attack someone here.

The corridor was secluded, so attacking someone when they were alone would be easier because no one was likely to come across me by accident. It was also darker, making it easy for me to hide from my target and escape after the attack without being seen by anyone else. The only disadvantages of the place I was standing in was that I couldn't see the stairs so someone could come up behind me in the middle of the kill, which would lead to disaster, especially if it was a teacher. It was because of the risk factor that I decided there were no doubt better positions for the assailant to take and I decided to go check them out. If I could find their hiding place then perhaps I could find something they'd left there.

After checking inside the transfiguration classroom and part of the way down the stairs a scent hit my nostrils. I found myself subconsciously licking my lips then quickly shook my head to clear it before one of the other girls saw me. Blood. It was relatively fresh too, and using lumos I was able to see a small streak of blood on the wall beside me, as if someone had wiped it from their hand onto the wall. I had a feeling that this belonged to the one who tried to attack Lavender.

'Guys!' I called to get their attention and they all came over to where I was standing. 'There's a bit of blood over here.'

'What?' Parvati asked surprised before I pointed it out to them.

'See? It's right there. Now there could be a lot of reasons that it's there, and it may have absolutely nothing to do with this, but I think it might be-'

'The vampire! Holy Merlin, the vampire tried to kill me!' Lavender shrieked, looking like she was about to pass out.

'We don't know that for sure, Lav. Like Melanie said, it probably has nothing to do with this.' Parvati tried to calm her friend down, but the other girl was just going into hysterics; not listening to a word she was saying.

'Parvati, take her to Professor McGonagall, I think she needs to hear this.' I suggested and she nodded, carefully leading the other girl away down the steps.

Once they were out of sight I turned to my twin and sighed. 'Still think that I'm the one behind the attacks?'

'No, I never thought-'

'Oh sure you didn't, that's why you were terrified when I told you about them and looked at me like I was a monster again.'

'Mel, I said I'm sorry. I just... I panicked, ok?! For once I wasn't thinking straight and when you said that I just... I jumped to the wrong conclusion. We both know it's not the first time I've done that.' Hermione apologised and for a moment I just stared at her, unsure what to do. Was she actually sorry?

I decided to take a chance on her.

'Ok Hermione, apology accepted. I forgive you.' I murmured softly.

'Thank you.' She gave me a gentle smile and put her hand on my shoulder. 'Now I guess we'd better find out more about this vampire, hadn't we?'

'Yeah.' I nodded. 'I should also get Potter, he's agreed to help me.'

'So that's why you two have been spending so much time together.'

'Mhm. Now come on, let's go.' I took her hand and pulled her down the stairs as we went to find Harry.

On the way, however, we were unfortunate to run into Malfoy and he blocked our way past him with his cronies. Oh how I wanted to punch that stupid smirk off his face. Little twerp.

'Well, well.. If it isn't the mudblood sisters. Where are you two off to? Going to tell Potter that all of a sudden you two are being best friends so that you can all braid each other's hair?'

'Oh sod off, Malfoy.' I growled.

'Or you'll what? Use your super twin powers on me?'

'No...But I might come along and bite you in your sleep.' Flashing him a wicked smile I allowed him to see just how sharp my pointed eye teeth were, before pushing him aside and pulling Hermione past him. 'Later Malfoy, try not to choke on your stupidity before dinner!' I called over my shoulder.

-/-/-

 **Sorry that this chapter is a bit short, but to be honest I'm sort of lacking in a plan for this story so any ideas or advice would be appreciated, thanks guys!**

 **~ Lexa**


	17. Chapter 17

We found Harry in the common room with Ron playing some strange game they called wizard chess, however it looked as though the game was just about at an end when we arrived and with all the news we had to tell Potter we didn't have time to worry about the board game.

'Hey Potter, can we have a word?' I asked as we walked over to the two boys, causing them to look up at us. Harry's face lit up in a smile at first but then it quickly disappeared, replaced by a look of confusion.

'Sure.' He nodded and stood up.

'Hey, what about me? Can't you talk to me about whatever this is too? Or am I not good enough to know about your little secret?' Ron asked with a frown, clearly feeling upset about not being included.

Looking over at Hermione who gave a small nod I sighed and gave in. 'Fine.' I groaned and rolled my eyes. 'But you need to keep quiet about this alright?'

'You got it.' The ginger nodded.

'It looks like you might as well sit down again Harry and we'll join you.' Hermione suggested and the three of us sat down.

'Ok so what is it you wanted to tell me?' Harry asked. Glancing around before I answered him, i observed that, thankfully, the common room was pretty empty for once and we could get straight down to business.

'The reason we wanted to talk to you was to let you know that we think the vampire tried to attack Lavender Brown today.' I replied.

'What?!' Ron asked as he stared at us. 'So the vampire _is_ real?'

'Yes, Harry and I proved that awhile ago when we checked out all of the victims and Professor Snape checked out some samples that we got from them.'

'You asked for help from Snape? As the Professor Snape, head of Slytherin House and hater of all things Gryffindor?' My sister asked, looking between Harry and I as if we were mad for asking the teacher for help.

'Yes and he was surprisingly cooperative, wasn't he Harry?'

'Yeah, he didn't give us detention or take house points or anything. He didn't even tell the other teachers. He was actually helpful, oddly enough.' The boy nodded in agreement, leaving both Mione and Ron at a loss for words.

'Anyway, so we know that the vampire is real and we know that it's still trying to attack people. The biggest problem that we have though, is trying to figure out who the vampire is.'

'I bet it's Snape.' Ron piped up.

'That wouldn't make any sense.' I shook my head.

'Why not? He's creepy, old, practically lives in the dungeons, you don't see him outside much at all... Sounds like the perfect vampire to me.' He replied.

'Then why would he help us?'

'Probably trying to throw you off the scent.' He shrugged.

'I doubt it.' Hermione disagreed. 'Either way there are still hundreds more people here in the school that we need to check out, the question is how do we test them?'

'Well, I think that Snape probably still has the results of the tests that he did with us so if we can get saliva from our potential suspects then we could cross check them with the saliva we got from the wounds on the victims. When we get a match we will know who the vampire is.'

'You're a genius!' Harry smiled, I merely shook my head.

'Nah, I've just learned a lot from my sister.' I chuckled.

'Wow, you know that's gotta be the nicest thing I've ever heard you say about her.' Ron looked at me surprised. 'What's the deal with that, are you two good now or do you still hate each other?'

Hermione and I looked at each other and shared a smile. 'We're good.' We both agreed.

'Great.' The boys grinned back at us.

I had to admit that it felt good to be happy for a change, we were all a lot more relaxed and now that Hermione and I had sorted things out between us, at least for now, things were less tense for everyone. It also meant that we could get to work solving these mysteries.

'There is one other thing though.' Ron said, after a time.

'What's that?' I asked, curiously.

'What about that Nicholas Flamel guy that we're supposed to be finding out about? We can't catch this vampire and find out what's going on with this other thing, can we?'

'We have to.' Mione replied. 'We need to solve both of these, for the safety of the school.'

'How?' Ron asked once more. 'There's only four of us.'

'Well then we're going to need some more help, aren't we?' I answered as though it was obvious.

'Who would help us? Most people would think we're crazy.'

'Actually I might know some girls who would be willing to give us a hand...'

A little later on I went up to the dorm and found Jade and Paisley sitting on Jade's bed talking about something. When I walked in they both looked up at me and frowned before shaking their heads and continuing their discussion. Frowning I went over to see what was wrong.

'Hey guys, what's up?'

Jade sighed and turned to look at me with one of her famous scowls. 'What do you want?'

'I just wanted to talk that's all, what's wrong?' I asked confused about her hostility towards me.

'"What's wrong" she asks. Hmph! Like you don't know, Melanie.' She mocked me and rolled her eyes.

'Oh come on Jade, what did I do?'

'It's more the case of what you didn't do.' Paisley replied.

'What do you mean?'

'You can't be that dense, Mel.' She shook her head. 'You've been ignoring us for ages! You don't even hang out with us after class anymore!'

'Yeah! You've been going off with Potter and hanging out with him and your sister more than us. So what do you want now? You must want something since we're not good enough to be your friends any more.' Jade continued to glare at me, but behind her angry facade I could see how much I'd upset her.

'Guys I... I didn't mean...' I'd had no idea that they were feeling like that. I couldn't believe that I'd allowed there to be so much distance between us when we were normally so close. I'd just been so caught up with all this stuff about the vampire that... Well I hadn't been hanging out with them like I should have been. 'I wasn't trying to ignore you, I promise! Honestly, I wasn't trying to upset your or ignore you and it's not that I don't want to be your friend anymore because I do! I really do! I've just been so busy lately and Hermione and I have been trying to fix things.. Please guys I wasn't trying to be mean. I didn't even realise you felt that way. I'm so sorry.'

'You're really sorry?' Paisley asked, giving me a tiny smile while Jade looked at me in disbelief.

'Yes, I'm really, truly sorry for what I've done. Can you ever forgive me?'

The two girls shared a long at each other before they stood up and exited the room, sending me a look over their shoulders which told me right away that I was to stay there and not follow them. So that's what I did. They then shut the door and I was left in the room alone. I could imagine that they had gotten into a sort of huddle, and proceeded to whisper to one another about what their decision would be. I truly hoped that they would agree to forgive me. They had been my best friends for quite awhile and I didn't want to lose them now after a laps of judgement.

I waited for the next few minutes, trying to be as patient as I could though I was feeling rather antsy. I wanted to go to the door and eavesdrop on them, but I knew if I did that and got caught then my chances of being forgiven would drop significantly, and I did not want that. So I stayed by the bed and continued to wait.

The minute I heard the door opened I was at attention, staring at the two of them in anticipation. 'Well guys? Am I forgiven? I really am sorry you know, I just-'

Jade raised a hand to silence me before giving me their verdict. 'You are forgiven,' My heart soared and I had been about to run over and hug them, but her next words made me pause. 'But you'll have to do something to make up for not hanging out with us.'

'Great! What do you want me to do?'

They smirked evilly and I felt my mouth start to go dry while my pulse quickened ever so slightly. Just what did they have in store for me?


	18. Chapter 18: All Together

So it turns out that I didn't really have to do anything that bad.. Ok actually it was terrifying. I had to do a nude run out of the girls dorm down into the common room where I had to do one lap of the room then come back up into the dormitory. What made it worse was they made me do it when Harry, Hermione and Ron were still in the common room.

It was so embarrassing! I'd never let anyone see me like that before! Well aside from my sister and my parents obviously, but still! None of my friends had ever seen me naked! That's why when I was running I did my best to try and cover my private areas so the others couldn't see them. I swear I've never run so fast in all my life, just to get away from the embarrassing scene.

But with that over and done with things between Jane, Paisley and I were back to normal. We all had a good laugh about the dare they'd forced me into and we talked for awhile about what they'd been up to while I was busy with the others. Turned out they hadn't really done much except keep up with their homework and play card games together when they had the chance. When I mentioned what I'd been up to with Hermione and the boys they became really interested in the mysteries we'd uncovered and were eager to help us uncover the truth about them.

'So you really want to help?' I asked once more, making them give an exasperated sigh before they both nodded.

'Yes!' Paisley agreed for what was probably the tenth time.

'Ok, ok! Sorry I just want to make sure, I mean what you're getting yourselves into isn't going to be easy.' I warned them.

'We know.' Jane rolled her eyes. 'We're your friends, Mel, of course we want to help you, no matter how hard it's going to be.'

'Thanks guys.' I smiled and hugged the two of them. 'Well, I guess we'd better go and tell the others that you're in.'

I got up and headed over to the door where I paused, waiting for them to follow. Once they stood behind me I headed out and went down the stairs with a small skip in my step. I had my best friends back and now we were coming together with my sister and her friends to solve a mystery and save the school! This was exciting!

'Hey guys!' I beamed at them, though when they saw me they all burst out laughing. 'Yes ha ha.' I replied sarcastically, but I found that I couldn't stay mad with them for long and soon all six of us were laughing as we thought about the stunt I had pulled before.

'I haven't seen you run that fast in a long time.' Hermione giggled.

'I haven't had the need to!' I grinned.

'Who's idea was it for you do to it?' Harry asked, wiping tears from his eyes.

'Mine!' Jane beamed and stuck her hand in the air proudly as she laughed.

I snorted in between bouts of laughter and shook my head. 'I should have known.'

'Yeah you should have.' She nodded, smirking.

'That's the first time I've ever seen a girl naked...' Ron muttered making the rest of us suddenly fall silent as we stared at him, quickly starting to feel awkward. It didn't last, however, as Paisley began to giggle and soon we all started laughing again.

That was how we spent the afternoon, talking and laughing in between discussing how things were going with our little investigations and deciding on what we should do next. So by the time we had to go to the great hall for dinner we had a plan of actions. Not to mention the hiccups.

We had decided that Paisley, Hermione and Ron would go to the library and search through the books for anything on Nicholas Flamel, while Jane, Harry and I tried to get DNA samples from some of the other students to compare with the samples we got from the victims of the vampire.

Ron didn't want to go through the books, since he hated reading through lots of information, but we all knew that he'd be useless at trying to stealthily get saliva or blood from other people for the samples. So we sorta forced him into going with Hermione or told him that he wouldn't get to be involved at all. Heh I told him that last part to shut him up when he tried to convince us that he could help Harry and I, once I said that we wouldn't include him he gave up on trying to change his job and agreed, albeit reluctantly, to help Hermione.

'Oh fine, if I _have_ to...' Ron grumbled.

'That's the spirit!' I grinned, cheekily.

So everything went well for us, the food was great, as always, and so was the company. For the first time in ages it felt like we were all enjoying ourselves and to my surprise we all got along splendidly, in fact it turned out that Jane, Paisley and Hermione actually had a lot in common! They all liked reading, though Hermione was definitely the most bookish out of the three of them, they liked similar colours, foods, and hey! The three of them even liked the same kinds of muggle music. I did too, to be honest, and Paisley pointed that out, pulling me back into the conversation.

All in all it was a great night and I was very happy that I'd gotten back together with my older friends and even connected them up with my new ones.


	19. Chapter 19: Going Home for Christmas

**Wow I can't believe that it's been so long since I updated this! But don't worry, I'm here to update it now!**

-/-/-

One week from that day when we had that dinner together and formed our plans was when we started to execute them. Hermione, Paisley and Ron began trawling through all the books they could get their hands on in the library that were about Nicholas Flamel while Harry, Jane and I tried to come up with ways to get DNA samples from students.

So far group 1 had yet to think of a plan that could actually work, all we had at the moment were silly ideas of trying to steal people's spit in their slip or some how trying to collect a sample of everyone's hair. We quickly realised it would be almost impossible to remember what piece of hair had been from which person without a good system, and no one felt like keeping track of hundreds of strands of hair. Thus, we ruled out both those options.

Group 2 hadn't had much luck either, as they were yet to find anything that was really useful. Sure, they'd found a bunch of things that at any other time would have been quite interesting, and some things that were a bit funny, but given that we needed answers quickly they weren't very helpful.

Neither group could afford to give up on their task, but sometimes we did rotate who was in which group, hoping that swapping a few people around sometimes might bring in fresh eyes and ideas, to help pick up things that the rest of us hadn't seen. Unfortunately, up until this point it hadn't been an overly helpful technique, but I had faith that one of us would have to find something eventually. No secret could hide forever.

Still, there was reason to rejoice as the Christmas season approached. I remember when they first put the Christmas tree up in the Great Hall and how amazed I had been by the how big it was and all of the decorations that the teachers had put on it. It was really beautiful. The snow outside was also nice to see, and it was... Surprisingly fun to play in. Jane and Paisley had forced me into a snowball fight and I had enjoyed it. Even if I'd ended up with a snowball in the face at one point.

I had always liked Christmas, though I don't really know why. Sure the presents were nice and of course there was the tasty food, but I guess it was just the feeling of being home that I really enjoyed. Christmas was the one day when Hermione and I had always made the effort to be siblings, and this year that would be easier since we were working together as sisters even before Christmas. Our parents would definitely be surprised to hear that.

'Are you looking forward to going home?' I asked Hermione as we packed our trunks together.

'Yes. Aren't you?' She inquired, looking over at me while I folded my Hogwarts robes.

'Yeah, I think so, but I'm also going to miss the others.'

'So am I, but it won't be long until we see them again and they still have things to do while we're away. You did explain the plan to Paisley and Jane, right?'

'Of course I did, they know what they have to do.'

'Sorry, I just wanted to make sure. This is the perfect time to do it, after all, since there will be fewer students and staff around over the break.'

'I know. Don't worry, Hermione, they will get it done.'

'I know, sorry.'

'It's fine. For now though, let's just finish packing and go and say goodbye to the others. Ok?'

She nodded and we folded up the rest of our things, placing them in our trunks, before going to bid our friends goodbye as we were about to go home for the holidays.

'Hey guys.' I greeted when we saw Jane and Paisley with Potter, Weasley.

'So you're really going home?' Paisley asked.

'Yeah. Try not to miss me too much.' I joked, making my friends grin.

'We'll do our best, but it won't be easy.' Jane smirked and hugged me.

'Thanks.' I grinned as I hugged her back. After we let go of each other I hugged Paisley, then looked over at the boys. 'See you when we come back. Make sure you keep each other safe. With this thing around you shouldn't take too many risks, but... Don't forget about the plan.'

'We won't.' Ronald sighed dramatically and rolled his eyes.

'Don't worry Melanie, we know what to do.' Potter said, though I didn't totally believe him.

'Ok.' I nodded anyway. 'Have a happy Christmas you guys. I'll send you something by owl, so make sure you keep an eye out.'

'You don't need to do that.' Harry said.

'Maybe not, but I think I should. You've done a lot of work.' I shrugged.

'Well... Thanks.' He smiled a little.

'You're welcome.'

It wasn't long after that when we had to go to the train and Hermione and I sat and talked together on the long journey back to Platform 9 3/4. We, of course, talked about the stone and the possible vampire that was roaming Hogwarts.

'Do you think the two are being done by the same person?' I asked looking over at her. We had decided to sit facing each other that way so that we could both have our own window seat and we could lie down if we wanted to, as I was doing now.

'I don't know. If it is Snape, then how could he be a vampire without everyone knowing? I don't think that Dumbledore would put the students in danger like that by hiring a teacher who drinks blood.'

'I don't think it's Snape. He did help Potter and I by proving that it really was a vampire who was doing all of this.' I pointed out. 'Why would he help us if it was him who was the vampire?'

'I don't know... But Snape was there at the Quidditch match when Harry's broom was jinxed, remember?'

'Well yeah, but so where a lot of people. It could have been another student.'

'But I saw Snape staring at Harry and he was saying something. He didn't blink, Mel, you know that means he was up to something. That _is_ how you cast that sort of jinx.'

I sighed and put a hand over my eyes, all of this was making my head hurt. We were getting nowhere... But at least we weren't fighting I supposed.

'Has he done anything else?' I asked.

'Well remember, he was limping after the troll attack on Halloween.'

'Alright... You have a point there. That was a bit weird.'

'Exactly. But it doesn't prove that he did it, does it?'

'No.' I shook my head. We didn't really have any proof that he had done anything wrong, and without that no one else would believe us.

'Let's just hope that our friends find something that will help.'

'I'm sure they will.'

Hermione seemed to go quiet after that and neither one of us said anything for what felt like ages. Not that I cared at that point, I hoped that might stop my head from hurting, but it didn't help that much.

When the lady with the trolley stopped outside our compartment Hermione told her that she didn't want anything, however I interjected and asked for some chocolate cauldrons. Thankfully I had a little bit of wizard pocket money so I was able to pay for the sweets. After I bought them I sat back down in the compartment and my sister looked at me with a raised brow.

'What?' I asked after I had bitten into one of the chocolates.

'Are you going to share?'

'I thought you didn't want any.'

'Well... Ok maybe just one?'

'Sure.' I replied, rolling my eyes with a smile before I handed one to her. 'There, now I shared.'

'Thank you.'

'You're welcome. Maybe I should have gotten some more if I'd known I'd have to share them with you.'

'Oh stop it, I've only had one.'

'So far.' I smirked at her.

'Oh very funny.' She said sarcastically. 'Don't worry I won't have anymore of them then.'

'Oh come on, Mione, I'm just teasing you.'

'Don't worry, I know.'

We both laughed a little and I even decided to sit beside her so that we could share the rest of the chocolates together. It was when the snow started to fall as we watched it through the train window, that a thought came into mind and I couldn't help giggling.

'What's funny?' Hermione asked.

'I was just thinking.. It's almost like we're in a Christmas Carol or something.' I explained.

'Well... I suppose so.'

'Dashing through the snow, on the old Hogwarts Express.' I said in a sing-song voice, causing us both to laugh at the silliness of it. Things were definitely different from how they had been at the start of the year. I almost had to admit that I did like this. It was good to be going home.

-/-/-

 **Well that was a long chapter, I hope that makes up for the wait. I also hope that you liked what you read, I enjoyed writing it, even if it doesn't have a lot of action in it. Anyway, in the next chapter we'll have a look at how Christmas is spent at the Granger house.**

 **~ Lexa**


	20. Chapter 20: Home at Last

**Sorry guys, I know that at the end of the last chapter I said that in this chapter there would be Christmas at the Grangers, but I had some loose ends to tie up first and I didn't want this chapter to be too long, so I've had to briefly postpone the actual Christmas celebration. Hope you guys don't mind too much and that you still like the chapter.**

 **Also I would like to say a big thank you to ChocolateSauce18 for your review, I really appreciate it, and I'm so glad that you like this story!**

-/-/-

The rest of the trip was pretty good if I was honest, laughing, singing, talking about magic , reading and things like that made up for the idle time just sitting in the train. Though at times I found myself nearly nodding off as the gentle rocking of the train made it easy to relax. Then to make things even better, we two sisters didn't fight at all during the whole ride. It was a miracle!

When we arrived at Platform 9 3/4, Hermione and I got off the train with our bags and tried to find our parents among the crowd. Thankfully there weren't quite as many people as there were at the beginning of the year when we went to Hogwarts for the first time, because naturally some students had stayed at the school, but there was still enough people that it was hectic and we had to be careful that we didn't get lost.

People were bustling around everywhere, parents looking for their children and visa versa, everyone was eager to get out and go home. While all of the constant, loud chatter was quickly starting to give me a headache, because of my sensitive ears, I could feel the buzz of Christmas in the air. However, there were other things I needed to focus on.

'I don't see them.' Hermione frowned as we waded through the crowd, looking for our parents.

I stood up on my toes to try and see a little better, my eyes scanning everyone we passed. 'Neither do... Wait. Over there.' I pointed to the right as I saw our mother's head. 'Come on.' I took Hermione's hand and led her over to our parents. When we reached them I forced myself to smile. 'Hi mum, hi dad.'

'Hey good girls, it's so good to have you back.' Of course mum hugged Hermione first, but I was trying not to let that get to me.

'We missed you.' My sister said as she returned the hug from mum then hugged dad.

'We missed you too.' Dad replied, holding her close.

'We've got so much to tell you.' Hermione grinned at them while I stood back a little, as usual.

'I can't wait to hear all about it, you can tell us on the way home.' Dad said and we went outside to the car then drove back to our home.

On the way, we talked about some of what we had done at Hogwarts and some of the things that were there, like the moving staircases, the talking pictures and the cool lessons we had. It was almost enjoyable, but I wasn't sure if they believed any of it. After all, a lot of that did sound ridiculous, even if it was all true.

'So you girls have actually brewed potions now, like witches in movies?' Dad asked as he drove.

'Yeah.' Hermione and I nodded.

'That's incredible. Well here we are, let's get your things back inside.'

I smiled as we pulled up into the driveway of our home. It was a small house, but it had enough room for the four of us. Although sharing one bathroom was a bit of a pain at times. At least Hermione and I had our own rooms, which just so happened to be next door to each other. Normally I'd hate that, but since that things seemed to be working out alright between the two of us it didn't seem like such a bad thing. For now at least.

As the car pulled up into the driveway a small smile appeared on my face, it was nice to see the house again. I mean we hadn't been away that long really, only a few months, but some how it felt longer now that I was back here again. Tiger must have agreed because when we got out of the car and opened the door of the house he ran straight inside and into my bedroom. We all laughed and I went after him, carrying my stuff in as I went so that I could put it away.

My room here was smaller than the dormitory at Hogwarts, obviously since there was just me in here. It had plain white painted walls and there was a soft, warn, grey carpet on the floor which I just couldn't wait to sink my feet into. The most colourful things in the room were, of course, the books on the shelves f that lined almost half the length of one of my walls. Reading had always been one of the things I liked to do. It kept me sane when Hermione or my parents were getting on my nerves. That was part of the reason I had so many of them, because I always wanted something to keep me busy once I'd done all my school work.

Speaking of school, I knew that I needed to put my books somewhere that I wouldn't lose them so that I'd have them when I went back to Hogwarts. It would be rather embarrassing to go back without my textbooks. I probably should have just left them in my trunk, but I didn't feel like going through my trunk every time I wanted to read one of them. So I made a place on my bookshelves and sat all my textbooks together. That way I would know where they all were.

With that done, I turned around and flopped down onto my bed, right next to where Tiger had already made himself comfortable. I couldn't help laughing as he rolled over and gave me this look which seemed to say 'do you mind?' He could be so funny when he wanted to be. Just as I started patting him the door to my room opened and my mother walked in.

'Oh hello.' I said sitting up.

'You don't sound very happy to seem me.' She said, taking a couple of steps into the room.

'It's not that, I just wasn't expecting you.' I shrugged.

'Well I just wanted to ask how you things were going for you at school?'

'Things were going good, I met a lot of people and the classes are interesting.'

'I'm happy to hear that. I did hear that you got into some trouble a few times though...'

'How did you hear about that? Did Hermione tell you?' I asked, almost immediately jumping to the conclusion that my sister had done me in to our parents about the couple of fights that I had been in at the start of the year.

However she shook her head. 'No, we got a letter sent to us by Professor McGonagall stating that you had tried to harm other students. I thought that we talked about biting-'

I groaned and rolled my eyes, cutting her off. 'Mum! I didn't do that, they called me and Hermione names so I hit them, that's it! Why do you always have to assume that I go around biting everyone in the neck?!' I hated it when she did that; I mean I was a vampire, not some monster.

She flinched away from me and sighed. 'I'm sorry. I didn't mean... Well, alright I did, but I'm just worried about you.'

'Oh sure, more like you're worried that everyone will find out about me, but don't worry it's not something I'm going to start telling everyone.'

'Yes well... You can at least be happy that Hermione didn't tell us what happened. Though I happen to think that she should have.'

'Yeah, but she didn't. So for once she's on my side.' I smirked.

'Oh stop it, there are no sides. Your father and I just want to know about what's going on in your lives and we worry about you when you don't tell us things.'

'But I didn't have to tell you and you found out.'

'That isn't the point, we would appreciate a letter now and then, Melanie.'

'Really? Because somehow I didn't think you'd want owls showing up here with letters, and how was I meant to know that you would want to hear about the trouble I've been in. Why didn't you just ask Hermione, before we left, to write you pretty letters so then you'd know how your perfect daughter was doing?'

'That's enough.' She tried to use her "I am your mother and you should be terrified of me right now" face, but I ignored it. 'Hermione never did anything for you to get so upset about, I don't understand why you're always saying nasty things about her, she is your sister.

'Believe me I know that, and you know what? We've actually stopped fighting.'

That made her eyes go wide. I smirked, I knew she wouldn't be expecting that. 'The two of you have decided to make peace with each other?'

'Yeah.'

'Well when did this happen?'

'Oh you know, when our friends and I helped save her from a troll, nothing major.' I shrugged.

'Very funny, Melanie, now what actually happened?'

'We just needed to talk things out really.' I explained, deciding against telling her the whole story of the troll. That would only freak her out and that was the last thing that I needed right now.

'Well I'm very glad to hear that, it's about time you two put aside your differences.'

'Yeah... So don't worry about us fighting anymore.'

'That is a relief.'

'Yeah, so you don't have worry about me biting her in a fit of rage or something.'

'Now just what is that meant to mean?' She asked with a deep frown.

'Oh nothing.. Just trying to make you feel better.' I smiled nastily.

'You watch your mouth, Melanie. I am your mother and I won't have you talking to me that way.' I just rolled my eyes and looked away.

'Right... Can I be left alone?'

'Alright.' With a sigh my mother turned and walked back to the door. 'I'll be in the kitchen if you manage to find your manners and feel like apologising.'

I doubted that I would want to do that for awhile, but I didn't tell her that as she left. Finally giving me back my peace and quiet.

Of course I didn't hate my parents, I just didn't like them as much as a probably should. I don't think they liked me as much as they should either. It had been less obvious when I wasn't a vampire, but since the attack... Well the non-creepy daughter had clearly become the favourite. I suppose I couldn't blame them. It was just the way people were, afraid of things they didn't understand.

It looked like this Christmas wasn't going to be as good as I had hoped. At least in regards to my parents. Still, Hermione and I could hopefully get past all that. With that in mind I got up and went to her room, knocking on the door as I stood in the doorway.

'Hey Hermione.'

'Oh hey Melanie.' Hermione looked up and smiled. 'Are you alright? I heard you shouting before.'

'Yeah, mum just decided she wanted to talk to me.' I shrugged, not wanting to go into too much detail.

'Oh. Well I take it that it didn't go very well then.'

'No, it didn't. Can we not talk about it? I'd rather do something.'

'What do you want to do?'

'I don't know... Actually wait, yes I do.' I turned and left, leaving what I thought would be a confused Hermione behind.

I got out some pieces of parchment, my quill and ink, some pens and a pair of scissors. I had decided I was going to make my friends back at Hogwarts some Christmas cards.

It took me awhile, a few hours actually, I wasn't really very good with art, but I managed to make a card for Paisley, Jane, Potter, Ronald, I don't know why I bothered to make him one because he probably won't read it, and I even made one for Hermione. Each card had something different on the front it that I thought each of them would like, and different message on the inside. They had been surprisingly fun to make, not that I would ever tell anyone that, but it was true.

The only thing left to do now was get real presents for each of them, and of course I had to figure out how I was going to mail all of this stuff to school without an owl. In regards to that, I supposed I would just have to wait for one of my friends to send me something then use the owl to send them back their gifts. Short of that I had no idea what I could do.

Still, before it got to the sending stage I needed to have bought the presents and it would be a few days before I could do that, I'd have to be on speaking terms with mum again. I wasn't exactly in a hurry for that, but I had promised my friends presents and I didn't want to back down on that.

But there was still one other person that I hadn't talked to since I had arrived home, dad. After deciding that I should at least say hello to him, I went to the living room and found him, sitting in his favourite chair reading a book.

'Hey dad.' I smiled awkwardly at him, practice ensuring that he couldn't see my 'fangs'.

'Hi Melanie, glad to be home?' He asked, looking up me.

'Yeah. Did you miss me much?'

'Well of course I did, we missed your sister and you a lot, you're our daughters.'

I sighed inwardly, of course my sister was mentioned first. But I should have been used to that. 'That's true, but I just thought I would check.' I chuckled.

'So, how was school? Did you learn a lot of magic and spells? I know you mother told you we heard you got into a little trouble-'

'I didn't bite anyone, I promise.'

'I believe you. Just try to keep out of trouble when you go back, alright?'

'Yes, dad. I'll try to.'

Even though trouble normally seemed to be chasing me, especially in the form of students at school.. Or other vampires.

'Good girl.' My father said then returned to reading his book. 'Maybe you should go and apologise to your mother for getting so upset with her earlier.'

That was the last thing I wanted to do, but I wouldn't argue. So I just rolled my eyes and walked away. I hadn't even been able to ask about being allowed to shop for presents. I supposed that would just have to wait awhile longer.

Yeah.. It was just so good to be home.

-/-/-

 **Ok guys, once again I hope you liked reading the chapter. The next chapter will have Melanie go out to buy presents for the others, let's see how the family's Christmas shopping goes!**

 **~ Lexa**


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